Fighter Planes Intercept Russian Bombers -- AP -Sept. 29 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- American and Canadian fighter planes were launched to intercept a pair of Russian bombers after the bombers came close to Alaska while conducting an exercise, military officials said Friday. The Russian aircraft on Thursday penetrated a 12-mile buffer zone near American airspace, according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD.The bombers never violated U.S. or Canadian airspace, said Maj. Gen. Brett Cairns, NORAD director of operations. Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage sent four F-15s to meet the Russian aircraft, said Master Sgt. Tim Hoffman, a base information officer. Two F-15s intercepted the planes by making visual contact and verifying their identity.The Russian planes then left the buffer zone, he said. `We just carried out our typical mission,` Hoffman said. `They were in international airspace the whole time.` CF-18 fighters also were launched from Canada, but did not intercept the Russian planes. Lt. Gen. Igor Khvorov, commander of Russian long-range aviation, said the exercise involved 70 bombers, which test-fired 18 cruise missiles, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported. `All the aircraft involved flew over neutral waters, and none of them came closer than 12 nautical miles to the maritime borders of any country,` Khvorov said. What made the event somewhat unusual was that the Russian military had told the United States about the maneuvers ahead of time, Hoffman said, a sharp contrast to Cold War practices. `They have become more open with the exercises,` he said.

Great posting from Gary Jacobs below---until you get to the end and find this quote: `What made the event somewhat unusual was that the Russian military had told the United States about the maneuvers ahead of time` Back in the day, that`s an edge we didn`t enjoy!!

The recent intercept of Russian Bear bombers brings back a lot of memories. While stationed at the 932nd in Iceland in the early 60s, running intercepts on Bear bombers was quite common. Each intercept officer had his name on the plotting board with red stars next to their names indicating the number of successful intercepts. I recall that at one commander`s call, I was asked to show a set of color slides taken by pilots of the 57th FIS of the bombers. All of the slides were stamped SECRET. As one of only a handful of card-carrying projectionists, I was asked to make the slide presentation. In one photo, as I recall, you could see one of the crew members of the Bear bomber waving as his photo was taken. It was very gratifying to see the slides and to see tangible evidence of the importance of our mission. It was a real morale booster.

When I was at Otis [551 OPSq, 57-59/ComCen.], we used to send msgs to EADF, etc. from the RC-121s [before they got their data links]...Several times TUs [Bears]; several times submarines... One day, a Bear and a Sub! I was impressed that our airborne Ops could spot the subs: Fortunately, both the Bears and subs were on routine missions and didn`t drop or launch anything... Aaron.

I was at Finley and Grand Forks AFB and was there when GRand Forks became active. Norm Aubrey

Looking for contact/whereabouts of Mr. Dan Breault. As far as I know he was a weather observer at Sparrevohn LRRS, Alaska in April 1978. Very interested in speaking to him about a C-130 crash that occurred there on April 28, 1978. Please contact me at e-mail roulstonrob@hotmail.com

For Jack Miller - Hi Jack (no airline pun intended!). You and anybody else stationed at any USAF or RCAF radar station are MOST WELCOME as members of Radomes. This is not an organization restricted to us radar rats at all. The only requirement for full membership is that you served in any capacity. Welcome! - Gene, Exec. Director.

Hi all you `scope dopes` and others who had the great fortune to be stationed at the family sites. I was at Armstrong AFS Canada 60-61 and Winslow 61-63 (Closure.) You would never let me in the radomes because I was Security Police. But I knew most of you because of the family atmosphere. Then I had to go back to the Regaf. Went to Truax field WI (Not to the SAGE center) but safeguarding the rest of the base until I got smart and went to OSI. Spent 10 years with them and retired in 75. Worked undercover for the District Attorneys office and for the Gaming Control Board in Las Vegas NV. Got here in 69 and havent left. Big difference in being here and on some of the sites, You dont have to shovel sunshine!. Been retired now for five years and turned to writing. Visit my web page at www. authorsden.com/jackmiller. If you want a personalized book at a discount contact LAMOOBooks.com. Good luck to you all.

I just returned from a visit to Cape Cod and when I visited the Highlands lighthouse I saw the Radome to my right and recalled there was an AFS at Truro. When I left the lighthouse and turned onto Dew Line Rd and drove up to the gate here was an intact Radar Site in front of me. The gate was open and I drove thru to the back of the site and it appeared that the Dome and OPS were secured by another fence and gated which I did not approach. as I left through the front gate the ball field on my left appeared to be overgrown and the backstop fence was still in place but in need of repair. Well fellow Radar vets if you want to see a fairly complete radar site to visit this is the one it brought back memories of the first time I drove thru the gate of Opheim 46 years ago.

If we have a Radomes member who is a practicing attorney-at-law, and would agree to represent Radomes in rare legal action, please contact me at the email address above. Many thanks, Gene

This weekend, pls take a few minutes and visit your unit sites and see what`s new in pix, docs, history: Then, check your ros- ter entry to see if it`s complete..If your sites have sub-sites for GATR, Gapfill, HF Radio, Tropo, etc., did you work at them while you were assigned to the main-site? If so, and a roster is available for the sub-site, pls sign in on it also to show you worked there, either full-time or on call..Thank you and pls send me any corrections or missing items. [Aaron].

I was the radar maintenance officer at Campion AFS from Aug 1972 to Aug 1973. Campion was the best duty assignment in the AF. The Commander was LtCol Charles Allen. The Ops Officer was Capt. Charles Patterson. The radar maintenance Superintendent was SMS Renick McGuire I remember the superior quality of the maintenance troops. I worked with a lot of well qualified maintenance people in my career, but the maintenance guys from Campion AFS `set the bar` to a level that was hard to meet.

I was a 30353C from 1956 to 1963

As a past AC&W member of Blaine AFS (WA)from 1965 to 1968 I am checking in!

Put 20 in and was heavy ground Radar then GPA-37, FST-2, PMEL, Air Borne Super Connies (Otis) and finally 1st Sgt. Live in Granbury, TX. I was at the following places Lackland, Keesler (Several times, Madera CA, Mill Valley CA, Ajo AZ, Pagwa River ON. Canada, Hastings NB, Lowry CO, Otis AFB MA, Boron AFS CA, Oscelo WI, Clark AFB PI, Carswell AFB TX retired there. Love to hear from any and all. Louis Pritchard

In case anyone out there is interested about the 616thAC&W Sq., check out the USAF TACS site. There are some good pictures of the kasernes in Ulm and New Ulm, Germany. In one of the write-ups I called the EM club in Ulm the Blue Bayou; what I meant to say was the Blue Byway. It will be corrected by the webmaster.

I am really enjoying your web site. I have a ton of information floating around in my head and some on paper. I was first stationed at Mt Laguna, CA in 1966, remote twice in Alaska ( last time as Ops Officer at Tatalina, ) Havre, MT at Buick III and Malmstrom more than once. Was first Captain to be a crew Senior Director. Instructor controller many times, etc, etc. Was on the augmentation team for NORAD, so visited most of the Buick sites and was stationed at St Margarets, Canada for about three years. ( Won the William Tell 74 controller trophey in the F-101 catagory.) Would be happy to share any info you need. Sincerely, William `Bruce` Taylor, Lt Col, USAFR Ret.

P.S. the call sign for Havre, MT BUIC III was ` Niblick` control in the time frame 1968-1970 when I was a Senior Director there.

Click on to the link below to read an interesting article about Mt. Lemmon AFS. Thanks to Tom Page for his input to the article. www.azstarnet.com/sn/columnists/146509.php

For all stationed at the Winston-Salem AFS, NC. thru 1963 and new CWO 4 R.S. East the Adm. Officer, I spoke with his relative a while back and it`s my sad duty to report Mr. East passed away at age 88 in Chatham, Va., 0n 3/29/2002. He served his country for 30 years with retirement on 6/1/1963. He will be missed. this information is from Sam Armstrong A2C and I was stationed with Mr. East during his tour od duty at Winston-Salem, AFS.

Would like to make contact with anyone who served at the 751st on Mt. Laguna, CA. I was there from Nov. 56 through Aug. 59.

Trying to locate Dan Schiable. Dan was Cook In Mess Hall sometime between Aug 1965 and Jan 4, 1968. Any information would be helpfull.

Long before Payday Loan companies became the scourge of military bases, that function was handled `in-house` so to speak. I recall at Keesler, there were always guys willing to loan 4 for 5 or even as little as 1 for 2. Meaning if $4.00 was borrowed, $5.00 would be paid back on payday. These amounts seem small today, but remember, an A/3C was only making about $90.00 per month before taxes. Five bucks went a long way in 1961. It was something that filled a need. For the most part, people doing the lending weren`t doing it to take advantage of their fellow airmen. In fact, those people were often sought out by those needing some extra cash. The other thing to remember, is that most of the guys doing the borrowing were young and stupid (weren`t we all back then)and didn`t have any money because they blew their pay on drinking and gambling. If you didn`t have any money, you could still survive by staying in the barracks and eating in the mess hall. I don`t ever recall borrowing from any of those guys. I tended to try and stretch my money to payday, but sometimes before payday I would have to forgo partying or going off base until the next check.

Hello Everyone: Enjoy a nice, safe, holiday...If you happen to look thru the `Rosters` for your site, or other sites and see a [??] in a field, and know the correct answer [someone`s rank, tour dates, AFSC and/or job title, current email address], pls take a note and msg me at aaron.nancy@verizon.net Also, if there is an error on a roster-line, or a change in life status, pls let me know...Thanks to you all, Aaron Allen.

For those of you who might want to learn more about MDA`s present and planned Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) programs, see www.mda.mil/mdalink/pdf/bmdsbook.pdf.

Missile Defense System Intercepts Rocket in Test New York Times Published: September 2, 2006 WASHINGTON, Sept. 1 — `In the first full-scale test of the ballistic missile defense system in more than a year, an interceptor rocket launched from California on Friday shot down a target fired from Alaska that officials said in some respects resembled a warhead from a North Korean rocket.` This morning there are Air Force computer, radar and operations personnel reviewing the test results to see how they performed and how their equipment reacted. Subtract a few years and it was us... except that our target would have been a SAC aircraft pretending to be a Soviet bomber. And the beat goes on...Happy Labor Day to all!

Re Jeff States` entry below on yesterday`s successful Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) test. For those of you who might be interested, the system that was tested was the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) System, and the interceptor itself was the Exo-atmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV), one of the programs I work on at Raytheon Missile Systems (Tucson, Arizona). The overall GMD system is integrated by Boeing. For the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA), this was the fourth (4th) successful test in the last few months: First, the ship-based Standard Missile - 3 (SM-3) interceptor; then, the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor; next, the Patriot Advanced Capability - 3 (PAC-3) interceptor; and now the GMD / EKV interceptor. SM-3 is also built here by Raytheon, while THAAD and PAC-3 are built by Lockheed Martin. Ballistic missile defense is a highly complex and daunting task, but as one can see, progress is being made on all fronts. Other BMDS interceptor programs are also in the works. At lot more work is needed for all the systems, but all are moving forward. **** Now, please excuse me while I wax philosophic for a moment. All of these BMDS programs carry a hefty price tag, and critics often question if it`s worth it. Well, what price tag do you put on American cities and American people? If terrorists hit us with truck bombs and hijacked aircraft, what would they do if they had nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them? What price tag indeed? Yesterday`s results are very encouraging, and should give terrorists and foreign governments reason not to attack (although, some day, they almost certainly will try!). I myself feel fortunate that I am able continue to serve my country in its missile-defense role, and I am truly glad to be part of the ``solution.`` Thank you, and have a safe Labor Day weekend. -- Tom

641st AC&W, a.k.a Melville AFS ... new photos added to website. Stop by! If you visit, please sign the Guestbook. http://melvilleairstation.tripod.com/

Great site. I was stationed at Calumet, MI(1957-1958), Hanna City,Il (1958)and Omaha AFS(1959-1960) Worked for RCA as site engineer from Sept 1960-Dec 1963. Poyote,Tx Hastings Ne, Omaha NE.