I was stationed at Yaak Montana, Northeast Cape Alaska, Snow Mountain Ky, Finley ND, and Snow Mountain Ky. TDY to 616th at Wasserkuppe Germany

At Mt. Tam in `53 and `54 we used the `Barney Phyfe` defense. We had dug foxholes around the perimeter of the base.Each barracks had a rack full of M-1 carbines in a locked rack. Of course we weren`t given any ammo and I never asked who had the key to the rack. Anyway we kept them well dusted.

I`ve been a member of Radomes,Inc. for about three years. I really enjoy reading all the messages from all the guys who were part of the cold war air defense system. During my time in service I spent a year at Guthrie AFS, WV (55-56), a year at Armstrong, Ont, Can (56-57),two years at 79th Fighter Gp, Youngstown Muni Aprt, Ohio (57&58); retrained into the Radar Operations Career Field in late 58 at Keesler. Next went to Dickinson AFS, ND (59 & 60); on to the Great Falls ADS, Malmstrom AFB, MT (61 - 66), on to 33rd ADS, Ft Lee AFS, VA (66-67). Next went to Thule BMEWS for a year (67-68. Next to Keesler as an instructor in the ECCM/AJO course 968-72. Finished my Air Force career as NCOIC, Operations at the 823rd Radar Sq, Mica Peak AFS, WA. (72-75). After retiring I went back to college and got my BS in Business and worked for the Spokane Postal Service for 19 years retiring for good in Dec 95. Would like to hear from anyone who might remember me.

I had an experience with the red stick `bomb` at Wallace Air Station back in 1966. I was working in the search tower one day and I obviously couldn`t be seen from the door. I heard the door open and saw the Air Police NCOIC come in, look around, and place something on top of a waveguide, and then left. I immediately investigated and found the `bomb`. I carried the bomb down to the Air Police office and dropped it into one of their waste cans with a few pieces of paper over it. I then returned to the radar maintenance office and waited. Sure enough, in a few minutes the call came in that a bomb had been planted. Since the rest of the maintenance guys now knew what I had done, we just sat there instead of searching. The next call came in asking if we had found it yet. Then the last call came in that it had just exploded. Our NCOIC asked them if there were any casualites in their office and then told them where to look for the bomb. Needless to say, they were not happy that we had not played the game correcty and then got the lecture about the proper way to handle a bomb, etc, etc. It was fun though.

This is somewhere between a joke on myself and the security matters previously mentioned. I was CQ once overnight in three plywood-hallway connected Quonset huts at the 622 Tactical Control Flight, near Bad Kreuznach, Germany. The radar sat atop Kuhberg hill, an area mostly of vineyards and forest. Duties included calling someplace every hour to confirm the balky military phone lines (affectionately known as “Hitler’s Revenge”) were operational. CQ carried a .38 pistol, if needed. Usually it sat in a holster in a web belt on a desk. Yet once previous to my shift someone unknown had by some means entered the fenced, locked radar compound and opened some trucks and rifled some stuff. Much concern since this was the mid-70s, when the German Baader-Meinhof terrorist gang was operating. Could it have been he (they?) were after aircraft radios? In the morning before dawn I heard footsteps outside. Or did I? The mind can play tricks. No vehicles outside, no sign of anyone. Yet I heard them again! I shut the interior lights off to get a better look outside. I found myself staring into the gloomy fog. (Weather there had three general states: 1) fog; 2 rain; 3) fog and rain.) I heard more footsteps, this time multiple footfalls, clear and distinct. I phoned the Army MPs, not known for their fast response to their sister service. I localized the sounds outside of one Quonset hut, and found the nearest back door. Gentlemen, I got in touch with my inner Barney Fife holding that .38, standing behind a metal door. I speculated perhaps multiple persons knew I was inside by myself. Finally I decided that whoever “they” were would likely be more surprised if I came out rather than waiting for them. I would use the advantage of surprise and threat of arms. I flung open the door, hollered, “Halt!” and drew down with the pistol. I found myself looking at deer, a doe and two fawns. Not being impressed with surprise and threat of arms, they eyed me and sauntered off. (My recollection is strict German laws regulated hunting.) Cancelled the MPs without telling about the critter incursion. Had a good laugh when it was all done. The mystery of who actually had previously been in the compound to my knowledge was never solved.

In response to John Tianen`s security penetration story, I Also had to attempt to penetrate the secured Radar Hill at the 759th AC&W RADRON at Nasalle Washington. On a Saturday in April 1962, I signed in at the main gate as a new Radar repairman fresh from Keesler. The young Air Policeman at the gate was busy on the phone trying to line up dates from a College in Portland Oregon and I was signed in without his ever checking my ID. Later that day I was called in to the orderly room to meet with the NCOIC of the APs and the Squadron Commander. I was asked to participate in testing the base security by stealing a security badge and reporting to the Radar Maintenance NCOIC on the hill on Monday morning. I was told to catch the truck outside of Mess Hall and not to wear the badge unless challenged. At that time they were using different color badges without photographs. When I went to the Gate on Sunday the same AP was on duty as the day before when i signed in. I didn`t know what that colors meant, so when he was busy checking out a car that arrived I lifted the White badge that belonged to the Security NCOIC. I don`t think I slept a wink that night, I really expected to be caught and beaten in the middle of the night. Monday I boarded the truck as instructed. I was challenged about my not wearing my badge by a Cripto Operator. I showed the badge and was told to wear it. Upon reporting in to the Radar Maintenance NCOIC, I was put into a Classified Radar class. Later in the morning when the class took a coffee break, being that I was the rookie I was left behind to guard the books. At noon I rode down from the hill in the pickup truck used to bring meals up. I was in the gate shack filling out a security report when my new Radar Maintenance Officer came down and he jokingly tossed an orange with the word `BOMB` on it into the gate shack. I found out later that the 759th attempted to test hill security at least once a month.

Don`t know if any of you have tried this one, but it is very entertaining......learned it in trade school after discharge. You plug the soldering iron into a long extension cord...then plug the extension cord into a VARIAC somewhere across the room. When the victim attempts to solder the circuit, you turn the VARIAC down just a bit...enough so that the solder don`t melt. You try to contain your laughter as the victim shakes the soldering iron. Of course, after he shakes it, it miraculously begins working again.....for a few minutes, then the situation repeats....followed by several tip changes. Drives em crazy. Works great for a microscope light too....watching the victim change bulbs again and again....or tearing into the microscope power supply. Another one we used to do: Run a length of plastic tubing from the victim`s breadboard project to some place across the room. Then as the victim powers up his breadboard project, you blow smoke into the plastic tubing. As the smoke curls up from his circuit board, the panic appears in his eyes, and plugs and switches are frantically pulled.....fun.

Forgot to mention that I was stupid enough to smoke in those days and the `no smoking` rules hadn`t been applied much yet.

When meeting the Promotion Board in the early fifties, one of the trick question was `what would you do if you met a Russian officer on base`? Many wild responses but the correct answer was that you would salute him.

Just an update: I should have stated that the McChord AFB Blockhouse is the only original SAGE building still being used for the intended Command, Control, Communications, and Computers, and overall surveillance & prosecution of bogeys. From talking with TSGT Morgan (Historian) at McChord, the USAF left one era and entered another technological advanced Command & Control era within the same building. If any of you guys are interested, I just received the invite for the next 25th Air Division Retired/Former Group`s Buffet Breakfast held October 2 at 9 am at the McChord AFB Northwest Connection. Family members and friends are welcome and the guest speaker is to be determined. The point of contact is: Ralph Hall 9823 East F Street Tacoma, Washington 98445 (253) 537-4655 This Buffet Breakfast is held twice a year in April & October and I understand the attendees are given a tour through the old SAGE Blockhouse and are able to view the current operations. I haven`t been able to get there yet but I will in the future.

I don`t know if this falls in the category of pranks or mischief but I`ll tell the story anyway. When I reported to Saratoga AFS, my paperwork and security clearance lagged my arrival. With no security clearance, I could not work in the restricted area so I was temporarily assigned to the Air Police. The NCOIC of the Air Police liked to test the security of the restricted area so he told me I was to assume the role of an enemy agent and plant a bomb in the Operations building. I dressed in fatigues and carried fake ID. Under my shirt I carried a red block of wood with the word BOMB written on it. I didn`t know the 4-digit code to get into the secure area so I punched a wrong combination which set off an alarm. An airman came to the door. I gave him a story about being new and not knowing the correct code. He let me in and I wandered around for a few minutes before I planted the bomb in a visible location. I left without incident. Within the hour, sirens were wailing and people were running about. My mission had succeded. I like to think my efforts improved security because a few months later, a stranger in uniform showed up late one night and attempted to penetrate the secure area. The AP`s immediately detained him. It seems he was sent from headquarters to test security much the same as I had done earlier.

A number of former SAGE Combat Direction Center / Control Center blockhouses are still in use. The ones still in use by the military include the ones at Luke AFB, AZ; Beale AFB, CA; McChord AFB, WA; Malmstrom AFB, MT; Minot AFB, ND; McGuire AFB, NJ; Fort Lee AFS, VA; and Gunter AFB, AL. The ones still in use for civilian purposes include the ones at Larson AFB, WA; Duluth IAP, MN; Fort Custer, MI; Sioux City AFS, IA; Richards-Gebaur AFB, MO; Stead AFB, NV; Adair AFS; OR; Truax Field, WI; K. I. Sawyer AFB, MI; and Stewart AFB, NY (partially). The ones we believe to be currently not in use at the present include the ones at Norton AFB, CA; and Hancock Field, NY. Finally, the ones that have been demolished are those at Topsham AFS, ME; and Grand Forks AFB, ND. Additional information about the current uses is found on our respective web pages for these sites. -- Tom

Gene, I was also the receipient of pranks. Just before starting school at Keesler. I had just been assigned to a barracks with 2 other students that had been going to school more than a year. I had just gotten off 2 straight weeks of KP and was sound asleep, when one of them woke me up loudly and said his buddy had passed out on the floor, and for me to run down to the day room and get a medic. I didn`t know any better, and went busting in there calling out my roommate was dying. There were about 15 people in there watching TV, and they all busted out laughing, saying I had been taken in by the local pranksters. They too were dying laughing when I got back to my room. After that initiation, their `boot` was accepted as one of them. I can`t remember their name but one was from Owensboro Ky, and the other from Ma., and loved to go downtown Biloxi bars, and fight the locals.

Would you put me in touch with Steve Weatherly. He wrote the article on Radar Maintenance Officer Training- Mid 60s.

I am disappointed at the non-use of those great Blockhouses used by the SAGE people. Could any of you imagine that once they were closed how they could have been used to house homeless people, or juveniles, or whatever? but they were left to just rot!! shameful. By the way, the SAGE Blockhouse at McChord AFB houses the Western Adir Defense Sector operations manned by the State of Washington ANG. I believe it is the only one still active as I visit it and exchange information with TSGT Mark Morgan - Historian.

The old DC-1 (New York Air Defense Sector) at McGuire AFB, New Jersey is now the Headquarters for the 21st Air Force, Ed. I worked in the blockhouse during the period 1959-1962 before I went to Ramstein AFB, Germany (86th Air Div) to work with the 412L system. That`s the only one I know of, since I visit McGuire on a regular basis.

our favorite diversion on Connie AEW flighs in 1954 was to welcome a newbie scope dope aboard by substituting a large negative nude picture in place of the grid co ordinate glass plate.Then covertly flip his grid input to `ON`.Then we`d observe his reaction as the nude picture gradually burnt into his scope display. Mostly they sat very quietly without saying a word.

Worst meal! Returning in the early evening after a 14 hour mission on the `Connie`, we were diverted to Alameda NAS because of tule fog at McClellan.No facilities for transient crews were avaialable but our A/C finally got them to reopen a messhall. We dined on cold porkchops with cold mashed potatoes with cold gravy.We were ordered to fly another mission the following morning but patchy fog was present so our A/C said we would sit at the end of the runway and take off in the next open spot. The Navy Ops officer said that Navy pilots wouldn`t fly in this kind of weather.Our A/C told him that thats why Navy pilots wore yellow wings and AF wore silver.We got the hell out of there and hoped we never had to return.

A part of AF history will go to eternity soon. The San Manuel Indians will take over the former Los Angeles Air Defense Sector direction center,(later used as the combat camera facility), and 27th Air Div. building, as well as 208 crumbling NCO housing units at the former Norton AFB, Calif., near San Bernardino. The LAADS activated in 1959 and closed in 1966. `I hope they knock them all down as soon as possible,` said San Bernardino Mayor Judith Valles. The structures are part of approximately 70 acres in San Bernardino that are either recently under the control of the tribe or will be by Dec. 1. The NCO housing units contain asbestos and lead-based paint and have deteriorated so much they could not be economically rehabilitated. The air defense facility, which has three-foot-thick concrete walls, also will likely be torn down.

Additional info about the resonant cavities of a Magnetron. While working for Raytheon Company in the 1970`s, I read the history of the company called the `Creative Ordeal`. Evidentently, the British sent the design of the magnetron over to USA during WWII, so that they could be mass produced for the war effort and several of the now big companies tried and failed. The stumbling block was the precision to which the resonant cavities had to be bored. That was when Dr. Spencer ( Honorary Doctorate ) a machinist came up with the idea of cutting the cavities out of shim stock and then laminating them together. The process was described as a `cooky cutter on a press`. Raytheon has a Spencer Laboratory in Massachusetts, named and dedicated to Dr, Spencer.

Follow Up on Magnetron Info, It was my understanding that Magnetrons could be operated in different modes, each at a different frequency dependent on the applied excitation voltage. However, since RADAR receivers could only be tuned to one to one frequency at a time, it was usually the one that required least voltage.

A Wee Story made from Call Signs of Units where I have served- RANDALL- a BEAR EATER of a man who kept the TOLLHOUSE and maintained FISHBAIT CONTROL , took a SEATRAIN and went ELSEWHERE looking for the HUNTRESS to give her a COPPER RING. He found her in a LONESOME,QUITE PALACE with LEVI where she was grasping a BAR HANDLE and eating a CARROT.

About 12 messages prior My friend Arnold Hooper wrote about being taken in by a bulbious bellied cook. I think it is the same cook I am going to write about. Indeed he was huge around the middle a real out of shape looking guy. He was also a martial arts expert (judo). He would sweat like a pig. One night I served midnight kp on his shift. It just happens the huge electric mixer broke down that night, well old cookie solved that problem, he was strong as hell. He bent over the stainless kettle filled with cake batter as he had to bake several sheet cakes for the next days chow. He was soon elbow deep into the batter with bare hands revolving around each other as fast as he could propell his hands. He added a secret ingrident that night his sweat dripping from his face head and upper body. He and I were the only ones on duty that night but I just had to warn my buddies about this. The old mess sgt could not figure why so much cake was not eaten, after all he thought it was pretty good. Another cook became a hero one day as we were going through fire fighting techiniques. The fire hose turned wide open got away from the handlers. The hose began flopping in every direction, if it hit any one it would have decapated them, at the very least break a few legs or maime some one. This cook was possibly the most physicaly fit man on the base, about 6`2` big chest and arms. He managed to fall on the hose and control it. As a result no injuries. The flopping hose was keeping the men away from the shut off valve. I don`t remember either of these mens names. These happinings took place on top of Mt. Tam Mill valley, Ca 666 Acw site.

Bernies story remined me of an incident at Cold bay, Ak when a curious person who was `voluntarily` helping out wanted to test the halogen fire extinguisher system in the kitchen. He claimed he accidentally hit the fire button and it dumped halogen like it was supposed to. This occurred just before a meal was to be served. Needless to say we ate C rations for two days until the mess was cleaned up with the accident prone person leading the cleanup crew.

I was stationed at the Dome during ‘63/’64 (Radar Maint shift duty). Frequently I would wander onto the dais and find the operators on the phones relieving their boredom. We had very early direct dialing and certain phones could dial world-wide. I would like to describe some of their activities. I would observe one scope operator dial-up someone (who hasn’t had female contact in months) on the Aleutian Chain, while his partner would dial a second number (presumably a female in Fairbanks) while we sat back to see what develops. One night had some of the operators chatting up a telephone operator at Hickam Field, when an official call came in from Indian Mountain. He admonished all listeners to keep quiet while dealing with the Indian Mtn call. However, the cat was out, and the Airman at Indian Mtn became aware of the link, and stated he had a brother stationed in Hawaii, but did not even know what branch of the service he was in. You know, that operator at Hickam located his brother, and had the Marine on the phone within 5 minutes! We would make contact with Canadian WAFs as well, and some guys even had a USAF WAF date waiting for them at McChord when they returned from Alaska.

Pranks well as a crew chief and ICT in Iceland we had split crews one on 4-12 other mid-8am my buddy would come in to relieve me I would pass him the phone which was also tied in to UHF I would tell him some old buddy down in Kef. wanted to say hi he`d pick up phone and say hi you old SOB how you doin he didn`t know I had it on 243.0 (for you radar maint guys that was guard chan. UHF) he would blast all over NE Iceland thank god very few A/C were up there

How about betting some one about how many plugs they could pick up in one hand on a old manual cord board in comm center. Just as they started to lift a whole hand full, hit the ringing voltage. You could win your bet every time.

How many radar troops were sent to civil engineers for a can of Skin Paint at their first assignment from tech school? The best one I remember was at Wallace AS, PI. I and the CEM NCOIC planted a calibration stick from a radiation detector to the underside of a desk top in the ops office with tape. Across the street looking out the windows was a trailer used for training. We went into the ops office claiming we had received a message requesting we do a survey to see if any radiation was being reflected from the height finder.Everytime we went near that desk the detector would give a high reading compared to the backround reading. We did that for a couple of days and the Ops people started getting concerned and went to the CC and the ops officer. We removed the calibration stick and I think the CEM NCOIC told the OPS NCOIC at the WASCOM (club). We had them worried to the point they wouldn`t go into the ops office. We were busting a gut for a few days until it just about got out of hand.CMSGT Larry Wolfe (NCOIC CEM) if you`re out there-remember the TIRED TIGERS.

I`m not sure that story of changing the magnetron frequency with a 2X4 was real, Harvey. The early fixed frequency magnetrons were cavity magnetrons, with the cavity size being the frequency determining factor. Since the cavity chamber was located between the permanet magnet, and the outer section covered with metal cooling fins, I don`t think a 2X4 could change the cavity size in order to change the frequency. If you took the magnetron out from between the permanent magnet poles, and used a good size hammer on the side of the cavity chamber, I`m sure the frequency would change. It would most likely go up, as the cavities would be smaller. If your going to go that far, you might as well put in another magnetron that`s tuned to a different frequency rather than risk `killing` the old one. The 2X4 story seems a little weak around the cavities, but who knows when it comes to electronics. It sounds like a good story, though.

Every once in a while at Murphy Dome on a slow Saturday night, I would call up two NCO clubs simultaniously and connect them, each thinking the other called. The caused quite an argument, and gave short lived entertainment. Another was breaking the access code for the PA system, and connecting an unsuspecting soul to it for the whole site to hear their conversation.

When working the midnight shift at Saratoga AFS, we used to work on our cars if things were slow. I recall spending almost one whole shift rebuilding the generator for my `56 Oldsmobile. The FPS-27 tower had a large freight elevator and one guy used to regularly bring his VW Beetle up the elevator and work on it.

Re:Harvey Hartman, Gene & Tom---I must have been at very `tame & boring` sites during my Air Force years..(1960-1967) Speaking for the `Ops guys,` I never knew or heard of any story involving `pranks` played on equipment or individuals. My three assignments were: Kirksville AFS, MO---Ramstein AFB, Germany (the cave) and Finland AFS, MN. I must have led a very `sheltered` life during my Air Force career!! Finally, for those of you who continue to enjoy and browse this site, new members are always needed. It costs .04 cents a day for a one year membership. ($15 per year) So, let`s go vets---how about showing support for Tom & Gene and all that they have done for us by creating and maintaining this site.

Hey, Glenn Widner - we also did an identical trick at BMEWS Site 1, Thule back in the very early 60s, except that we just dialed numbers at random. Great for giggles & grins on night shift.

Chow at Mt Tam and Rockville, Iceland was great. One of the cooks at Mt Tam (666th) played a good one on me. One morning I was on KP and while having a cuppa joe prior to the morning meal, a cook said that he had seen a guy on the Ed Sullivan show walking around on his hands. I said it was probably a lot harder than it looked. He immediately offered to bet a dollar that he could walk the length of the chowhall on his hands. Now, he was an older man with a prominent pot belly so I felt confident when I took him up on it. To my amazement, he flipped onto his hands and proceeded to win the bet.

Tom, I`ve got a question about an old rumor from the 1970s. Seems that a story used to go around about a B-52 that was jamming the dickens out of a radar site during an exercise. Since the magnatron on the site`s old height finder was on its last legs, the maintenance guys would whack it with a two by four to get it to change frequencies and then paint the Buff with one or two sweeps before it locked on to the new frequency. Supposedly, ADC was quite curious as to how this particular site was able to thwart the Buff`s jamming efforts (this was in the days before frequency agility) but no one dared to tell about their now-dented maggie. True or just another urban legend?

Speaking of practical jokes, if we were restless at 2AM and felt a little fiendish, we`d sneak into the T2/T4 simulator room and launch a handful of `fighters` over the pole (we were in Alaska) for the ops newbie to detect. (Obviously, we had to clue in the ops duty supe so no one actually launched real interceptors!) I remember that a couple of the poor kids were convinced that they were witnessing the beginning of WWIII. It was hard to keep from falling out of our chairs from laughing so hard!

At Luke AFB in the 1969-70 time frame at a Mobile Tac Unit we had a TPS-40 Mobile Height Finder. This had a ECCM receivers and a search light capability which allowed us to concentrate a full powered pencil beam on a aircraft. We used to this track a B-58 Hustler jamming us and never lost it for more than several elevation sweeps. The crew couldn`t believe it and visited the site to see what we had for radar. They were amazed that such an old system could do this. Iwas the amintenance tech helping the ops crew track him.

It looks like the question about Radar Site Chow was a successful one and generated a lot of postings and memories. Now, who has stories about the tricks that Maintenance and Ops used to play on each other. I know that we let our hair down a little on mid shift and things occasionally got a little wild! Anyone remember some good ones?

Hmmm...trick on Ops, eh? Well, we used to charge capacitors with a `megger`, and leave them lying around for somebody to pick up. Sometimes had them camoflaged - like inside a ballpoint pen - one wire to the clip, the other to the metal ring. They`d give you a little jolt if you picked`em up.

Similarly, does anyone have any good war stories where CEM Maintenance troops were caught taking shortcuts or fudging some results because ``everyone else does it`` or ``no one will find out``? I recall one particular PACE flight during my stay at Fort Fisher AFS, NC, in the latter 1970`s. (PACE, standing for ``Performance Analysis by Continual Evaluation,`` was the weekly flight check of our radars, radios, and data-transmission system.) In this one particular flight, our PACE Monitor (a MSgt who was also our NCOIC of QC) was making the height-finder replies on the RHI scope. The aircraft paint disappeared from the scope, which often happened due to AP or weather or similar reasons, so -- as was generally the case -- he continued making height replies where he ``knew`` the aircraft was. He continued this for a while ... and then the phone rang in Ops. It was the PACE NCOIC at 20th Air Division, Fort Lee AFS, calling to inform him, ``You can stop sending height replies now -- the PACE flight was aborted 10 minutes ago!`` Oops! Busted!

Used to love to charge up the plexiglass overlay on the UPA-35 while the controllers back was turned and watch his expression when he turned around to see multiple splitting sweeps. Also use to sneek up on the dias with a magnet and raise havoc with the PPI Displays. Also would reverse the leads on the deflection amps on the RHI and the sweep would be on the right corner nodding instead of the left corner

I still have a 1952 Christmas menu from the 666 AC&W (Mt Tam).Suffice to say it ends with mixed nuts and cigars.Unique was the Sunday brunch from 10:00 am to 2:00 with food cooked to order.We had constructed our own BBQ area and had frequent outside BBQs.If you planned to go hiking, the cooks would furnish you food to take with you. About as good as it gets.

To Harvey Hartman. The building is most likely the old Division Operations Center which had a large central are with offices as you describe which were for the operations staff. Visited Elliungton while I was with the FAA

For Bob Blackburn (9/11/2004) - My name is MSgt Harvey Hartman and I am a full-time member of the Texas Air National Guard at LaPorte, on the east side of Houston. I did 9 years in AC&W in the USAF from 1972 to 1981 and have been in the TxANG since 1990. Ellington is our host base. You may remember the LaPorte Municipal Airport by its original name: Preston Auxiliary Field No. 2. Preston #2 was a satellite practice airfield for Ellingtons cadets during the WWII years. I grew up in Houston and remember when Ellington was an active AFB. In fact, I still have vague memories of going to air shows with my parents in the early 1960s when jets were the most exciting thing around! As you are probably aware, Ellington closed as an active duty AFB in the mid 1970s and has been an ANG base since. Now, it is a Joint Reserve Base with a large Army helicopter battallion and a Coast Guard Auxillary. Of course, NASA has been a tenant of Ellington since the early days of the space program. You would hardly recognize your old Ellington AFB these days. All of the WWII era wooden buildings have been razed (the last long-vacant wooden dormitory falling to the wrecker`s ball in 1994) and only a few of the Korean War era buildings remain. However, almost the entire street system exists, even though most of the streets dead end omniously into grassy places where buildings once stood. Ellington is currently experiencing a construction boom with new buildings being erected for the TxANG`s 147th FW (F-16s.) On the other hand, you might be happy to hear that your old FPS-6 height finder tower is still standing, albeit with the FPS-6 long removed. Also, the old operations building is still standing, along with a couple of minor 747th AC&W Sq buildings. Of course, the old search tower is long gone but the round foundation is still visible! As I mentioned earlier, I am stationed on the LaPorte airport. My ANG unit, the 272nd EIS (Engineering & Installation Sq,) was known in your days as the 272nd GEEIA Squadron and we have been in the same building since the 1950s. Unfortunately, all of our historical records disappeared several years ago and we have little or no knowledge of our building`s history. It is of typical 1950s government concrete block construction and has a large central room (which we use as our auditorium) which is surrounded on three sides with two stories of offices. The central room has some curious ridges in the floor tiles that look like they are covering up some abandoned cable raceways. (The floor was re-tiled many years ago and no one has been there long enough to know what is under them.) A persistant rumor is that the building was originally designed as a radar operations building and the large central room was the ops darkroom. No evidence exists of a removed radar tower. Can you shed some light on our building? Many thanks, Harvey (281-929-2572, ext 229)

To Gary Jacobs on harassing phone calls...My friend is retired from federal law enforcement and has always had an unlisted number for obvious reasons. I am sure he has access to resources to track and stop the offending caller that the ordinary person probably would not have. That said, It still doesn`t diminish the anguish felt, particularly by his wife.

I looking for personnel that I was stationed with at Fordland AFS, Mo. Sioux Lookour, Ontario, Canada, Oklahome City AFS ( Both Radar Station and Division), Olatha AFS, Kansas and Richards-Gebaur AFB ( Supply Squadron). Thanks Bill Bacon MSgt, Retired

I know this guestbook is for radar-related subjects but I just became aware of something that all veterans and patriotic Americans should know about. The son of an old friend of mine is currently serving in combat in Iraq (1 Purple Heart so far). My friend and his wife are understandably proud of their son and what he is doing but like all families of someone serving in a combat zone, any phone call or knock on the door can bring on a level of nervous anxiety. This morning I received an urgent e-mail from my friend asking that I not give out his phone number, e-mail or postal address to anyone (I never have and I won`t). While he currently has an unlisted phone number, his wife has started to receive harassing phone calls about their son from someone with an Arabic accent. I guess the moral of this story is that if you have a family member serving in the armed forces (especially in Iraq or Afganistan) be very careful about who you let know about this information. There was a time in this country when families could proudly point to other family members serving in the armed forces without fear of negative consequences. I`m not so sure that is entirely true any more....

I`m still looking for raymond tate from Ark---If U know his whereabouts plz let me know---We were at the 767th together at Tierra Amarilla----Thanks Bill

Anyone with harassing phone calls of any type, including `no one there` should make a police report, then contact their phone company about call blocking, tracing and other options. In California this is covered under Penal Code Section 653(m). Check your state`s laws. I also advise using an answering machine to screen (and tape) calls. Don`t answer and debate with someone harassing you. That only adds to his fun and your agitation. Sometimes these things take time depending on how determined and creative the caller is. But many give up after meeting roadblocks.

Thomas Page, Thanks for the quick response to my question. I`m sure that my brother Dan, who was stationed at Bucks harbor AFS twice during his USAF career, will find the details of what has become of the site very interesting. I recently told him of this web site and I`m sure that he will be trying to reach some of his old buddies. After retiring from the USAF, Dan took a position with an American company and is presently a contractor at a NATO Base on the island of Crete Greece.

Can anyone tell me the name of the USAF Radar site near Machias Maine? My brother Dan ( a lifer) was stationed there a couple of times in the late 60s. He started out as a radio tech. Since retiring from the USAF, he`s been working as a contractor at a NATO base on the island of Crete in Greece.

I lived in Neah Bay, WA, former home of Makah AFS, a local. I grew up with many dependants that attended our schools, later married Ken Waddell, we went to Athens, Greece in `65. Then to Shaw AFB in 68. Needless to say we were real yhoung, later I met many others stationed here. Made many friends. Any one remember the visiting 1849er`s from Sacramento? Theywould come up and work on the radar site...Some have stayed on and married locals, if I can help put you in touch, please write..great site, good memories!!!!

For Kenneth Leoutsacos: The USAF Radar site near Machias, Maine, was Bucks Harbor AFS.

For Steve Weatherly. Steve, we have some common ground: I also had the additional duty as Food Service Officer when I was assigned to the 689th at Mt. Hebo AFS in the early 1960s (1960-1962). I do understand your comments about having to sign a jillion documents! Yes, we did have good food on `The Hill` thanks to some very talented and hard-working cooks and bakers. As I recall, we had an A1C teletype maintenance man who had been a baker in civilian life and we imposed on him a few times to ply his art, too. As you said, the weather on Mt. Hebo was noteworthy and often not very nice but there were compensating factors. We had a fine bunch of guys working there (no females in those days) and we got the job done. I was the Radar Maintenance Officer as primary duty, by the way, also the Mortuary Officer, Special Services Officer, Project Blue Book Officer (now, that was a fun job), and a lot of others too numerous to mention (27 in all). However, as good as the food was at Mt. Hebo, I did a TDY in 1960-1961 at Eufaula AFS, AL, which had a `garrison ration` mess; they just received money (a larger amount per person) which was spent on the local market instead of in a Commissary, and they really ate `high on the hog`! The fact that they were the location for training on the prototype AN/FPS-24 FD radar and benefitted from a lot of TDY money just made the food better. There is no way a `field ration` mess could compete with a `garrison ration` one, and there were different awards in the Hennessey Trophy for them.

For Bud Egan and Jack Armstrong. Yes, that omnidirectional antenna was part of the side-lobe blanking circuitry. As I recall, it was designed to have a gain in all directions just slightly greater than what would be received in the strongest side-lobe of the main antenna array and was fed into a comparison circuit with the main radar input and any radar data that was not stronger than the omni data (in real time) was cancelled. This process greatly reduced the impact of false returns coming in via the search antenna side-lobes; it was even more effective in combatting jamming coming in through the side-lobes. Of course, I am remembering this from about 40 years ago, but I think I`m right.

For Jack Armstrong. The AN/FPS-24 operated in the radar `P` band, which was actually a VHF signal (although they called it UHF) covering the range of 214-236 MHz (if I recall correctly), and the low end of that range overlapped that of TV channel 13 and often caused interference on the adjacent channel 12. That is the reason it caused such problems with the local TV. The problems with the sound/audio equipment is even more basic--that transmitter was putting out 5 Megawatts peak power on each of 2 channels pulsed at 333 pulses per second (PPS). The average power of those transmitters was 250 kilowatts per channel, and there was no way that anyone was going to filter out the noise so produced (a low-frequency buzz about every 12 seconds--or oftener, if the side-lobes were involved) in a radio equipment (which had to have an antenna). It might have been possible to build a shielded room that would have made it possible to tape music from records, etc. and did not depend on an electromagnetic external signal for input. Such a shielded room would not have been cheap. The AN/FPS-24 on Mt. Hebo AFS, OR shared the site with a TV translator for the nearby town of Tillamook, which used channel 12; we had lots of calls about interference after the new radar went operational, and actually had to suspend usage of about half the frequency band (low end) unless we were in a hostile condition.

About radar site food. I do remember that for a while at Mt. Hebo AFS, OR (while I was Food Service Officer) we had a problem with the troops eating Midnight Chow not getting their fair share of the better food (tastier, not more wholesome); it seems that the Commander had begun coming in for breakfast every morning and, near the end of the month when rations were pretty picked over, the Mess Sergeant was putting the bacon and ham out for breakfast and was giving the midnight guys fried balogna or Spam--both of which are just as nutritious as bacon and ham, but not as palatable--because there was not enough of the nicer meat to service both meals. Since I was also the Radar Maintenance Officer and frequently visited the Operations Building in the wee hours of the morning to see what was going on, I heard about this practice. I discussed it first with the Commander and he agreed with me that this was a bad practice and should be stopped (he had not been aware that it was going on, and would have acted himself to stop it had he known). Of course, once I advised the Mess Sergeant that both the Commander and I wanted him to provide the same foods for both breakfast and midnight meals, he made it happen. A few of the higher-ranking officers and NCOs (on day duty) griped a little, but I set them straight--those guys on night duty deserved every little break they could get, and certainly should not have to put up with lesser quality meals. Don`t get me wrong--I`m not bashing the Mess Sergeant: he was just doing what he thought was best to keep me out of trouble with my boss (the Commander). When I told him that the Commander and I both thought it best that everyone share in the fried balogna and Spam, he was mollified.

Re: Hole Flow. When I was in the business, we were taught Electron Flow in tech school when using vacuum tube theory, but to describe transistor theory, the system was Hole Flow. The instructors were Air Force in both instances. We coped.

I was at ellington from 1951---to1955 at the radar site , was there when they built it .

I was at ellington from 1951---to1955 at the radar site , was there when they built it .

I glanced up at Fox News yesterday morning, only to see the name `Eldorado, TX` flash across the screen. Got my attention because this spring we were down in Texas, and I visited the mothballed buildings of the PAVE PAWS 8th MWS site and sent in a few pics. But the story had nothing to do with the site - rather, it was something about local police officials and residents being concerned about an group of alleged bigamists setting up camp near Eldorado! One never knows what may happen where once active duty folks served, eh?

Reference the height finders, somewhere I still have a buzzer wired to a bulb base. This could be plugged in to the request light. We could then play pinochle, and the buzzer would tell us when a request came in.

To Gene McManus : Gene - your discussion of electron flow and current flow interested me. As you know the Air Force always taught Electron flow, negative to positive. I attended a class at Scribner AFS, Nb on the 487L ultra low frequency system and because the transmitter sites at Silver Creek Nb and Hahn CA were joint manned by Air Force and Navy personnel, the school had students from both branches. The Navy guys always talked about `Hole Flow`, which I think is what you are calling current flow. That is the way they were taught as electronic techs and we had many interesting discussions on the subject. We mutually agreed that it didn`t matter as long as you did not attempt to mix the two together. Much later when I attended graduate school at U of Minnesota to attain an electrical Engineering degree, I again came upon the terms and theory of `Hole flow` - it is not rocket science and really does not hold any advantage over electron flow theory. I came to the conclusion that `Hole flow` is something that sort of has a status symbol, yes I think the Engineers tend to get their nose up in the air sometime and try to set themselves apart from the `techs`. I did some guest lecturing in the local school and often the students would breech this subject and want to be filled in on what the differences were and why they are direct opposite and yet work very well in theory if you stay on one track or the other. Where the problem comes in is when a complicated system is designed by a group of Engineers and the team leader splits the project up and assigns different section to individual engineers. If they approach their particular section of design from different theories, i.e., electron vs hole flow, you encounter some interesting problems when you as a tech have to troubleshoot this system and try to interpret the tech manuals. Another simple example of this problem was on the RCA designed AN/GKA-5 Time Division Data Link. The design Engineers were working at Cherry HIll, Camden N.J. and there was a real rush to get this equipment on line. The reason was that we were using the AN/GKA-1 and AN/GKA-4 Mod and demod Frequency Division Data Link system that was produced by GE. The sortie completion rate in 1959/60 was somewhat below 20% and this concern AF officials so much that this info was classified `secret` at the time. In order to rush the new data link system into the field, RCA assigned different teams of Engineers to different section of the equipment. The result was interesting - you could have two places where a certain output was required, certain pulse or series of pulses. The different engineers would design totally different circuits to arrive at the same result. Reading the logic prints was made more difficult and teaching this equipment became more difficult because of this quirk. It would be nice if there was greater standardization of theory and design which would lead to greater cooperation between Engineers and Techs. This would lead to more efficient use of time to maintain and repair equipment. One of my friends maintains that engineers that design automobiles should have to work on the autos in the shop for a couple of years before they allow them to design anything. I`ve worked on both sides of the fence and would appreciate any means to close the gap between the two entities. Fred

Question to all AC&W Radar Techs, Did any of you experience the removal the `ENTER` buttons on the Heightfinder Displays that the operators had to depress in order for them to send the requested target data back to SAGE? At the 759th AC&W RADRON at Nasalle WA, we found that the operators were drilling holes through them so they could thread a small beaded chain through them. The operators would carry these buttons around as symbols of what they did in the service. On several occasions we had to submit priority requisitions for replacement buttons to stay operational.

Is was not uncommon for the controller to stick a tooth pic in the button so it automatically replied to all height requests , especially on noghts. Never experienced the critera mentioned Ken W.

Book on e-bay (not from me): NASA Air Force Satellite Tracking Radar History, “SATELLITE TRACKING FACILITIES` by Thomas, Shirley; New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., (1963) `Their History and Operation.` Numerous b/w figures, 159 pages, hardcover. Mustard paper-covered boards, spine slightly sunned, interior still clean and tight. Very good dustjacket. Story of mini-track, Baker Nunn, Project Moonwatch, space surveillance systems, satellite control and more with photos.

Just found the web site. Lot`s of lookin before I add my memories, but sure will be fun! Keesler 1961 Las Cruces AFS, NM 1962 Cross City AFS, FL 1963 St. Lawrence Island AFS, AK 1965 w Philco Tin City AFS, AK 1965 w Philco

A coming anniverssary that contributed to U.S. radar development. From Los Angeles Times, Sept. 24, 1949: `TRUMAN SAYS RUSS HAVE A-BOMB,` Washington, Sept. 23 (AP)-An atomic explosion has occurred in Russia--a fateful portent that the Soviets have broken an American A-bomb monopoly on which the non-Communists world depended so heavily. The historic news, comparable only in significance to the announcement of the Hiroshima blast of Aug. 6, 1945, was given to the world today by President Truman in these words: `We have evidence that within recent weeks an atomic explosion occurred in the USSR.` He did not say it was an atom bomb that exploded somewhere in the vast reaches behind the Iron Curtain. But Secretary of State Acheson said he assumed the blast was that of an atomic weapon--and there was every indication that the United States is no longer the sole possessor of the dread secret. As a matter of fact, a high U.S. official told a reporter tonight: `There`s no question about it. It was an atomic bomb. But so far as we know Russia has made only one bomb. They`ll never catch up with us.` Does it mean World War III? High U.S. policy makers were of the view that it does not bring war any closer. For one thing they pointed out that the United States has a four-year head start in atomic bomb manufacture. They figured that the Soviets would be wary of starting an atomic struggle in which retaliation could be so swift. Commenting on the news, Gen. Bradley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said: `The calmer the American people take this the better. We have anticipated it for four years and it calls for no change in our basic defense plan.` Bradley himself spent part of the day playing golf. (From the Lincoln Lab web site, edited: Created in 1951 as a federally-funded research center of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lincoln Laboratory quickly established a reputation for pioneering advanced electronics in air defense systems. Building on digital technology from the MIT Whirlwind Computer of the late 1940s, early research at Lincoln Laboratory was focused on the design and prototype development of a network of ground-based radars and aircraft control centers for continental air defense. The Laboratory’s Millstone Hill radar, completed in 1957, utilized the first all solid state, programmable digital computer for real-time tracking of objects in space. In addition to its role in developing technology basic to the ballistic missile early warning system, the Millstone Hill facility was the first radar to detect and track the Soviet Sputnik satellites and later served as a tracking station for Cape Canaveral launches. The Laboratory’s fundamental mission is to apply science and advanced technology to critical problems of national security.) Worth remembering how sobering that news was -- consider the tone of the story. Recall, too, the U.S. basically had no air defense against an enemy who acquired its own deadly weapons. We have our own contemporary debate with similarities when it comes to missile defense radars ... (Makes you wonder during those 50s and 60s atomic airburst tests why the electronics were fried by EMP. Or maybe they were? I think one test caused a black-out in Hawaii.) Finally, Ike was no slouch on the links himself. When in doubt, golf.

What happened to the Canada Site at Sioux Lookout? I was stationed there from Aug 1958 to Jul 61. I was a Radar Op (Crew Chief), lived on base in a Trailer with my family.

Here`s an idea for you: A modern, all-electronic, air- transportable or fixed ACW [ACS] site, equal in coverage to those WE have served at [or better in range & ht.]... Would it have a four-sided phased-array search-rig? Would it have a `phased-nodder` HF that only [turns] to the selectd azimuth? Would the oprs have multiple flat-screen monitors? Would the site and any fighters they are guiding exchange data on their displays [fighter cud `see` site`s view; site cud monitor acft`s heads-up display]?.. For supporting people: What wud a `state-of-the-art` version of YOUR onsite office or shop be like? To reduce power and HVAC costs, how cud the site reduce `loads` in seasons? Maybe this sort of station with a modest size crew could replace some of the older, still-manned and working sites? If in the CONUSADIZ, would be a good idea to have some FAA, DHS liasion folks onsite also? If in `NORAD country`, CAF personnel, mak- ing the site a joint-operation [like 552/Tinker]?..Cud the air-transportable version be in a set of hut-modules which cud be `helicoptered` to the actual sites [or replaced by depot-overhauled units]? Would the pyramid-shaped [search] antenna module need an air-dome over it to keep snow, rain, ice off?..The modular site would resemble GCA, radiocomm, and newer MASH sites with inter-module [flexible] passageways?.. Yes--there wud be individual rooms with 13-19` TV/VCR/DVDs [e/w headsets], room phones/answering sets, small `fridges, data provisions [bring-ur-own PCs, laptops]...And, a nice work- out room, mini-PX, infirmary, and sitdn/takeout chowhall which would have a sked. which allowed one or two people from each section to either eat or pickup the whole section`s order? By order of the comdr, informal, shirt-sleeve uniforms, light- weight shoes [that don`t mark the floors!] onsite, year-round! Aaron

For Bill Bacon: Check out URL http://www.pinetreeline.org/locations.html. You`ll find Sioux Lookout on that page. - Gene

Sorry! I goofed! The HQ building was on the RIGHT as U topped the hill at the 767th.It was a 2 story with upstairs being sleeping quarters.Directly behind was the supply bulding--a 1 story.At an angle across was a 1 story day room and east of it was a 1 story mess hall.

Do you have any information about the Canadian Air Observer Corp? I am paticularly interested in the time perion 1957-60.Thanks

Hi there...my father as far as I can tell was a member of 777th RDRSQ in Klamath..forgive me if I`ve typed that wrong.. I`m trying to find anyone that knew my father back then. He never talked much about his days in the service and I always wondered why. If you can help me or you knew my dad I`d love to chat with you. By the way, he passed away August 15, 2002 of cancer. Thanks for your help. Sincerely, Michele Toper

Worked as an AB through A1C in the SAGE system at 23rd NORAD Region Control Center, Duluth AFB, MN, 1978-79 (Surveillance and then Identification). Thanks for the preservation efforts!

Today, I visited what is left of the Saratoga AFS, and am quite interested in finding out more about it`s history.

Had very good chow at Fortuna, ND, especially when TDY bakers would spend 90 days with us. Chow was excellent overseas at Okino-Jima and absolutely awesome at Eglin AFB, FL. I got on a kick for SOS recipes and found about 30+. If anyone is interested let me know and I`ll go dig them up and email them to you.

At Galena, AK we had about 120 troops and a handful of FAA types in 1964. Chow was superb!! If they had ever tested us for the old USAF 5BX program, or even given us a weigh-in, half would surely fail the test. The Base Commander was fully cognizant of the importance food played on the Alaska version of the frozen tundra, and allowed us to eat a `fourth meal` anytime we wanted, since the chow hall was open for the usual three daily squares plus midnight chow. There were actually a couple guys who would go for four meals a day for several days running, and some of these folks really ballooned up! Those were the days when you could bring in your catch or your game, get the guys to cook it up, and serve it up for all to share in! Does anyone know if you can still do that in this era of having to have every morsel served in a GI Chow Hall pass umpteen inspections before even being allowed in for preparation?

My first duty station at a Texas radar station was great when it came to chow halls. My first introduction as a young airman to Mexican food...man what a change for a southern boy from Georgia. Talk about expanding your world. Midnight chow was the best. Our guys made sure operations always had a good meal. I remember those special holiday meals that were such a treat. Then on to the P.I. and Clark mess halls----just not the same. Used to catch the chopper to Wallace AFS on a long weekend to see buddies. Those guys knew about food. Wallace was a vacation site that was classified as a remote duty. Always wondered what burecrat defined that one. Good years that I look back on with the fondest of memories. visiting this site to read the latest and contact friends from those years has been great.

(From a British radar Web site.) 1:1 In the Beginning God created Radar. 1:2 And the Radar was without form, and void; and darkness [was] upon the face of the PPI. And the Spirit of God moved upon the Circuit Diagrams. 1:3 And God said, Let there be a Power Supply: and there was a Power Supply. 1:4 And God saw the Power Supply, that [it was] good: and God divided the Power Supply with an On/Off switch and a Light, which was often in darkness. 1:5 And God called the Light “On”, and the darkness he called “Off”. And the ”On/Off” switch and the Light was the first day. 1:6 And God said, Let there be Wiring in the midst of the system, and let there be Dividers to control the potentials. 1:7 And God made the Wiring and the Dividers: and it was so. 1:8 And God caused the potentials to be divided and the wiring to carry current. And the evening and the morning were the second day. 1:9 And God said, Let there be Magnetrons and Klystrons and let Modulators appear. 1:10 And God commissioned the Transmitter: and God saw that [it was] good. 1:11 And God said, Let there be Receivers, the Logarithmic Amplifier, [and] the circuits yielding the Waveforms of every kind upon the earth: and it was so. 1:12 And the Receivers brought forth Signals, [and] Waveforms of every kind, and the Logarithmic Amplifier did not saturate: and God saw that [it was] good. 1:13 And the evening and the morning were the third day. 1:14 And God said, Let there be Targets in the firmament of the heaven day and night; and let them be for Defense, and for Reconnaissance, Attack and for Cargo, and Passengers: 1:15 And let them be illuminated by Radar in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the PPI: and it was so. 1:16 And God made two great Systems; the greater system to give Early Warning, and the lesser system to make the Intercept: [he made] the Navaids also. 1:17 And God set them to shine into the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the PPI, 1:18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to track the Aircraft in the darkness: and God saw that [it was] good. 1:19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. 1:20 And God said, Let the Vendors bring forth abundantly the components that make Radar life, and [that which] may illuminate above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. 1:21 And God created great Antennae, and every component that moveth, which the Vendors brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged aircraft after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good. 1:22 And God blessed them, saying, be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the PPI with targets, and let targets multiply on the PPI. 1:23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. 1:24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, Technicians, and Mechanics, and the Scope Dopes of the earth after his kind: and it was so. 1:25 And God made the Technicians after his kind, and Mechanics after their kind, and every Scope Dope that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good. 1:26 And God said, Let us make Officers in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the Technicians and the Mechanics and over all the earth, and over every creeping Scope Dope that creepeth upon the earth. 1:27 So God created Officers in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue the Other Ranks: and have dominion over the Systems, and over the Aircraft of the air, and over every living thing that moveth around the Station. 1:29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every kind of Radar, which [is] upon the face of all the earth, and every Vendor, in which [is] the fruit of a factory yielding equipment; to you it shall be for meat. 1:30 And to every Technician of the earth, and to every Aircraft of the air, and to every Scope Dope that creepeth upon the earth, wherein [there is] life, [I have given] every kind of system for meat: and it was so. 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, [it was] very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. 2:1 Thus the Radar Systems and the Personnel were finished, and all the host of them, but God did not rest...... 2:2 And on the seventh day God had to fix the Radar for it had gone faulty.

I have to concur with Buck Brennan about AC&W Sites having the best dinning facilities. The `Chow Hall` at Stephenville, NFLD was my favorite. We had a Buck SGT as the NCOIC (69-70) and he was smart enough to let the locals do all the cooking. We received a visit from the CMSgt of the Air Force and had moose that one of the local cooks had shot and prepared and it was great. On the other end of the spectrum at the dinning hall at Cape Romonzof, AK. Unfortunately the RCA Service Co had the contract for all support services and I still csn`t figure out where they found what they termed cooks.

You fellows talking about chow brings back memories of a conversation I had with a young Naval officer at a barber shop in the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright Patterson AFB in late 1963. While waiting to get a haircut we both compared our experiences with Air Force and Navy food. ACW Sites vs. destroyers and carriers. We finally reached an agreement that the smaller the unit the better the chow. He also mentioned that he was just recently accepted into the Astronaut program. I really super nice guy, who ended up burning to death in an Apollo Capsule at Cape Carnival. Roger Chaffee, Lt.Comdr. USN.

Another food anecdote (definitely a common interest, looks like): At one of my radar site assignments (nameless, to protect the ghosts of those involved) the food, as mentioned by many before, was very good overall, with one or two days a week being outstanding. For a two or three week period (as I look back, I figure it was the end of the fiscal year), we airmen were `strongly encouraged` to show up at the dining hall for at least three meals a day (midnight chow was optional) to add our signatures and meal card numbers to the roster, whether we ate or not. The explanation was that our food money was driven by how many had eaten during a certain period. We did it `voluntarily` (no pressure, of course--you know how sensitive and non-vindictive our superiors were back then), and I guess the sin was worth the result--we continued to eat well.

Navy Chow! While flying with the 551st AEW&C we use to land in Bermuda when weather on Cape Cod was bad. The Air Force and Navy shared the Chow Hall each having a serving line. After you paid for your meal you could eat in either line. I once picked the shortest line and then found out why it was so short. Food was terrible and it was the Navy line. Stationed in Pago Pago American Samoa we ate in a island government ran Cafeteria. The head cook was a retired Navy cook. And yes he did make SOS with a tomato base.

Only BAD food i ever received/ate was in the mobile TACS at the famed, fighting 621TCF, wiesbaden, GE. those rations (K type?) were terrible. All the small sites were great. WAS, RP had a soul food day which was actually southern food that was great. North Bend OR had a pastry chef doing midnight chow. the best meal of the day.

In the mid-60`s we had a field ration mess at Mt Hebo AFS. Probably the same for most AC&W sites. As I recall (and for me Food Service was an additional duty), a field ration mess was authorized a daily food budget (real dollars) for all squadron personnel not on separate rations. This was true whether these personnel actually ate a meal on site or did not. How we ordered our supplies from Adair AFS and added extras using our assigned food budget was a `text book` case for Operations Research, knowing the regulations, and as some would say an educated guess. We could also add those wonderful fresh cooked salmon that we hauled out of the nearby Pacific. Salmon never came out of our food budget; it was one compensation for our remote location. Our Dining Hall (aka Tunnelville Teahouse)won a Hennessy Trophy for best AF Dining Hall in competition with similar sized units including Richards-Gebaur AFB. Yes, the food was great and we had fresh breads and pastries daily. Regardless of the often nasty weather extremes outside, we looked forward to great meals to keep up spirits. It was quite an accomplishment for our two food service NCOs and their staff whose expertise before Mt Hebo was in cooking and serving for 100`s at a much larger base. They learned quickly how to handle the management and administrative end of Food Service at an isolated AC&W site. They also taught a Lt where to sign on the endless stream of paperwork. More paperwork than even a crypto account, and AFM 66-1 Maintenance Mgmt combined. Throughout the squadron our belts were pleasantly tight, and our hats were off to our small, but exceptional productive and proficient food service professionals. You could also say similar good things about our small numbers of medical, air police, personal services, supply, civil engineering, motor pool, and admin personnel who also had an essential role in squadron operations and achievement. Along with their radar and radio buddies, they were all members of a great team.