Upon completing Tech School at Keesler (Dec 54), and as directed by my orders, I reported to 224 Albany Street, Cambridge MA (4 Jan 55). My work place was in the Barta Building on Mass Ave, where the Air Force paid $$$/hour to MIT to use the Whirlwind computer two days/week (Tuesday and Thursday), four hours each day to conduct research and test the Cape Cod System-the forerunner of SAGE.
The test team members had to learn literally two sets of symbology, the first the more difficult. The Whirlwind computer presented data on the console scope in a block figure 8: Letters were designated by "parts" of the figure 8. The letter "W," as in South Weymouth NAS was a doozy. The first time we saw the AN/FSQ-7 SAGE presentations we were absolutely agog. Everything was clear and readable. What a difference!!
In Apr 55 I was sent with five others to South Truro to work a few special missions. We departed for a two-week TDY and learned upon signing in at the site that it had been changed to a PCS. The first weekend after arriving we had to return to the "mainland" to pick-up the rest of our personal belongings, cancel rental agreements, etc. (At that time Hanscom Field did not exist. It was in the very early stages of construction. Our Orderly Room (6520 ACW Sq EXPER) was located in Building B of Lincoln Lab, so everyone working at the Barta Bldg lived off base.) We were not happy about the change, but later it turned into a great deal.
In Nov 55 Air Defense Command ordered us Air Research and Development Command troops off the site at North Truro (C/S: No Trump) to make room for Texas Tower personnel. The concept was to house Tower crews at North Truro, shuttle them to the Tower for their month-long "tour," and use them at North Truro when they returned from the Tower. But that concept never materialized, for the Tower personnel were based out of Otis.
But it certainly didn`t bother us ARDC folks. We had already been put up in an 18-room house in the town of Wellfleet. We were paid $2.57/day BAS, which went up to $3.52 about 15 months later. In those days that was big $$$$!! We did our own cooking, which meant that by pooling our money the cost per day was significantly less than the BAS received.
This "good life" is very significant, for we didn`t have to pull any of the details (CQ, Guard Mount, KP, etc) normally assigned to those assigned to an Air Base. When the barracks at Hanscom were built, all the Test Team members at the Barta building were put on base and worked in Building F of Lincoln Lab.
The primary job for us six operators was to conduct blip-scans tests of numerous different aircraft (T-33s, C-47s, B-29s, F-2Hs, even B-47s) to compare the strengths and ratios of raw radar, IFF, SDV (Slowed Down Video), and FGD (Fine Grain Data). Very likely somewhere in the archives at Lincoln Lab there are tons of blip-scan ratio logs of thousands of hours of these blip scan tests. To my knowledge, South Truro was the only site that conducted these tests on a regular, long term basis. These tests were a sub-set of the overall effort to develop and deploy the SAGE System.
NOTE: SDV arrived at the distant end 180 degrees out of phase, and was corrected accordingly.
There were even a test conducted over a period of a couple of months to determine the difficulty an operator would experience visually tracking a target (processed data) versus another operator visually tracking the same target on raw radar through clutter. It was amazing how long it took the two Lincoln Lab psychologists to determine that tracking a target through heavy ground clutter (processed data) was essentially impossible-since every return has the same strength.
The extra money and lack of dislikable details was a strong discipline incentive. Getting volunteers from Hanscom to replace a recalcitrant was a snap. So, our NCOIC at South Truro, MSgt Buck Braun, told newcomers that the second time he had to speak to them about proper behavior they would be transferred to Hanscom- "…and this is the first time!" During my 3 1/2 years on the site, only two people didn`t believe him.
Your photos on the Web Page of South Truro are post mid-57. Construction of the FPS-20 tower began in the spring of 56, along with installation in the main building (photo right) of the equipment that would eventually process search and height data for transmission to Building F at Lincoln Lab. The radome in your photo is actually the second one to be installed on the tower.
The first radome, which was the first such dome to be installed on any radar, actually caused problems. As the result of some testing-installing tin foil tape to the inside geodesic sections and the nuts/bolts connecting them-it was learned that the dome interfered with the radar. That dome was removed and the second one-with thinner edges and smaller nuts/bolts-was installed in May 57.
Prior to the FPS-20 South Truro used an FPS-3 for a search radar. It sat on a tower just inside the fence about where the sheds are in your photo. Very close to where the POVs are parked outside the fence. There was no dome or bubble on the radar.
In addition, we used an FPS-4 for a Height Finder, and it was located on a tower out of the photo to the right. Later, circa 56, an FPS-6 was installed on one of the other hills south of the search radar. (On the map of your Page, the search site was located on the north "plot," as you already know. The FPS-6 was on the "plot" to the south, and the Tropo site was on the east "plot."
Regarding the scope photos of clutter at South Truro, yes, it likely is sea clutter, which was very common on very windy days. Which, brought up some interesting tests. For some time we had observed what appeared to be very small patches of sea clutter when the seas were actually very calm. A couple of the scientist/technician types wondered if we might be picking up sea gulls on our 20 radar. Thus, the Sea Gull Test was born, and put on the Weekly Schedule for South Truro.
On those scheduled days, for about two hours, a Navy blimp from South Weymouth was tasked to fly along the beach (Newcomb Hollow area) to flush any sea gulls (a dozen or more) that might be sitting on the beach. The pilot would inform us (radio) that the birds were flushed and we would start the scope camera. After many weeks of this and a great deal of data reduction we determined that a bird with at least one quart of water/blood in its body would give a return to the FPS-20. This information proved useful in the R&D of the SAGE System-for ground and sea clutter was mapped out so as not to overload the FSQ-7.
Later, we set up one of the scopes at 50 miles (expansion), mounted a camera, and at night took pictures of migratory birds flying over the Cape. Some times the scope was practically "blacked out" with bird returns.
Another interesting, unusual test was one to calibrate the FPS-31 at Bath ME. A T-33 was tasked to fly over the 20 radome at low level-less than 5,000 AGL. As it passed over the radome, one of our operators, standing outside the building (usually on the 20 tower catwalk), with a headset on and a "mile" of line running to a GTA-6 box inside the building, would yell "Mark!" as the T-33 flew overhead. At Bath another operator, also wearing a headset and connected to the person at South Truro, would take a read-out with his light pen on the RAPPI.
There were a myriad of other tests conducted, far too many and varied to provide any detail, although one does stand out, and it was never on the Weekly Schedule, per se. It consisted of putting a camera on the FPS-6 scope, and directing the FPS-6 at thunderheads so as to take pictures of lightning. The scientist conducting the test could do so on a non-interference basis. So, if we had a few minutes-sometimes no more that 5-10, he would hurriedly mount the camera on the scope, take as many pictures as possible, then remove the camera so we could resume blip scans with the FPS-6. He was one of the most amiable people I`ve ever met.
Some of the names, which I recall, of the military assigned to South Truro are: Buck Braun, Earl Bishop, Larry Grimes, Frank Jewell, Denton Connor, Bob Briddick, Bill James, Jay Miller, Buzz Gibson, Charles Harris, John Godek. There were others, but right now I can`t recall their names-maybe another time.
One of the civilians working on South Truro during my tour was Gene Cormier. He was born and raised in the town of Wellfleet, went into the Air Force for four year, with his last assignment to Greenland, got out and went to work for Lincoln Lab (later Mitre). He recently retired from Mitre (?) and lives in Wellfleet-in the same home he built in the late 50`s-and would have a wealth of knowledge about South Truro. Gene worked at the site right up to the day it closed in the mid-60s.
Another individual who posses considerable historical information about the development of SAGE is David Buckley. To locate him, contact the MITRE Personnel Office. He was in Colorado Springs for a very long time, but I believe he is now retired and living on the East Coast.