Some Baker AFS Notes

contributed by Noel Benner

No photos but it was an experience. Regarding the radome, the manufacturer (Sperry) came out with a PMI to go to the roof with a sonometer (device for listening to sounds etc.) and listen to the bearing area for grinding noises or other sounds that could mean something amiss. This PMI was devised to head off disastrous bearing damage as it took weeks to change one even with E&I help. But they didn`t take into account the radome over the Baker radar. When one went into the radome area with the antenna turned on, it created a powerful vortex of wind inside and would literally blow the hat off your head and of course listening to bearing noise was out of the question due to wind noise. We were given an alternate PMI. The trip up the mountain was also an experience. When I was there (1967 to closing), E-5 and below could not go up in their POVs and had to take the squadron bus. Most folks took the bus anyway as the last 5 miles was brutal on a vehicle. During shift change, no one was allowed to go up or down the "radar" road until the bus cleared. We also had a full mess hall at the mountain top and were fed quite well.