I received assignment orders to the 4754th Radar Evaluation Squadron toward the end of my duty tour at Detachment 5, 621st Tactical Control Squadron Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand. I wondered why I had drawn an assignment to an outfit I had never heard of before. What did I know about evaluation work? I thought of my impending assignment as the kiss of death. I wanted a Radar Squadron assignment where I thought my skills and knowledge would be better utilized. So it was with some trepidation that I arrived at Hill AFB, Utah in August 1968. Shortly after signing in, I was assigned to the Data Sensors section (which was a fancy name for the Radar Maintenance troops hangout). Anyway, I soon knew I was in trouble, because I was issued a B-4 bag, a hang-up bag, navigator`s briefcase, regular briefcase, arctic parka and a stack of radar evaluation procedure manuals. About 30 days later, with other team members, I was sitting on top of a mountain outside Las Vegas on a 30 plus days special evaluation on a AN/FPS-26A Height Finding Radar. To make a long story shorter I came to relish my evaluation assignment and all of it`s attendant duties and, found that no finer group of people worked harder at demanding tasks whether in the dead of winter or broiling sun. Long hours (such as before sunrise to after sunset) were the norm. There was a camaraderie and sense of teamwork that brought the best from everyone in the squadron. Every evaluation was an interesting experience, some more so then others. So turn back the calendar with me to March 1972.
Admiral Elmo Zumwalt was the Navy`s CNO. He was infamous for his zinger messages to the fleet, which were tagged "Z-Grams". Woe unto you if you were the recipient of one his Z-Grams. The evaluation squadron got tasking orders to conduct an evaluation on a Navy owned radar on San Clemente Island. We learned that the navy had wanted search radar on the island, and had purchased an arctic tower and an AN/FPS-20A radar. An AF Ground Electronics Engineering Installation Agency team installed the radar, and now the navy wanted it evaluated. A pre-evaluation equipment checklist was sent to the navy unit. The time limit for return of the completed checklist came and went, HQ ADC was notified and ultimately the news reached Adm. Zumwalt. A blistering Z-Gram was sent to the navy unit, with a copy to us. In no uncertain terms they were told to certify their radar was ready for the evaluation. Shortly thereafter we got the go order. The Navy was paying all TDY expenses and so a team was assembled and we reported to the flight line one-day to await a Navy plane to ferry us to the island. And that`s what we did, waited that is. After several hours we were informed that the plane scheduled for our flight had mechanical problems and the mission would be rescheduled. A few days later a R5D Skymaster (C-54 for the AF) landed and taxied up to base ops. We boarded and, surprise! All the seats faced the tail. Now, we were all dressed in our fresh and neatly pressed uniforms, with our natty hang up bags and B-4 bags etc., etc. The navy crew chief was sporting an oil stained tee-shirt with a skull and cross bones emblazoned on it, he had us stack our gear against a bulk head where he strapped in and cinched the stack down tight! There went the neatly packed uniforms! We settled in and a few hours later were looking down on a fogged in island, but hey, not to worry the navy was told to get us to the island, so down we went and shortly there after deplaned in front of a small operations building. Later a navy chief told us that the runway instrument landing system had not been certified in over two years. Ignorance is truly bliss!
So there we were, standing outside the ops building and not a welcoming person in sight. Captain Burkard our team chief finally connected with someone that knew about our mission and an 18-passenger bus arrived to take us to the base area. ADC had established the 670th AC&W Squadron on the island and later on turned the entire complex over to the Navy. We enlisted troops were directed to a small barracks room where we discovered a half dozen or so double-decker bunks in total disarray, with some turned over and a stack of filthy mattresses piled in a corner. A nearby latrine looked like it had last been used/cleaned about ten years ago. As the team NCOIC I quickly found the team chief who was with one of the navy officers. I described what we had found and said that if these were the best the navy could do for quarters I recommend that we abort the mission and go home. Needless to say we were quickly housed in far better quarters. However, then the matter of transportation came up. The best the navy could do was assign us the 18-passenger bus and we would be on our own. Being the only one licensed to drive a bus I soon found myself behind the steering wheel with the team on board, headed toward the high end of the island. A few miles later we came upon a roadside sign that informed us we were "Now Entering San Clemente Nation Forest". Two ragged looking trees later there was a sign: "You Are Now Leaving San Clemente National Forest". Just past the forest the two-lane asphalt road became gravel. During our travels up and down the spine of the island we never found any evidence of the old 670th squadron`s radar towers or tower footings. We continued on and after a while found a radar tower and a one story building near by. Now things started to really get interesting
My self and the two other radar maintenance men found the radar manned by two navy civilian employees. They were ex-navy enlisted, ship-borne radar technicians, and as we later learned had never before seen a heavy ground search radar. We decided first things first, hooked up a TS-419 signal generator and did a MDS measurement. The minimum discernable signal measurement was so low we first thought the TS-419 was at fault. It wasn`t. We had just never seen such a low MDS signal before. Along with the MDS, the transmitter`s power output measurement was near the bottom of the chart. Pressing on we discovered there was no Moving Target Indicator video and all the other videos in general were at or below minimum standards. Video grass levels were almost nil. Also the only active transmitter channel was the "B" channel. . When an attempt was made to change channels the B channel dropped out of radiate and no channel change occurred. The "A" channel would not fire into the dummy load .The range and angle marks were out of alignment to boot. Behind channel "A" we found two AN/UPA-35 PPI indicators, still in their shipping crates. Test equipment was stacked here and there and if memory serves there was one workbench and a few chairs. Spare parts were scattered around in boxes with some in a storage locker. There was a stack of T.O.`s and revisions that had not been filed. In total disbelief we gave up and located the team chief next door, told him the bad news and after he came out of shock he called home plate. We were advised to call back the next day. Returning to the base we found the navy dining hall, put our sleeping quarters in order and, went to bed hoping that the next day would bring us a recall order.
Unfortunately that was not to be, we were told that HQ USAF had ordered that we remain on the island and bring the radar up to evaluation standards. Our quick thinking team chief said the only ones that needed to remain were the radar maintenance people. So we said good bye to the rest of the team and watched them board the contract aircraft that made scheduled flights between the island and US Naval Air Station, San Diego. Nearly every morning the lower island elevation would be shrouded in a dense layer of fog. As we drove uphill to the radar tower we would emerge into brilliant sunshine and in the distance would see tops of nearby islands poking up from the fog bank. Scattered all over the island were flocks of goats that kept the vegetation cropped down. Those goats were everywhere! There was certainly nothing wrong with their reproductive systems. To say we weren`t a group of happy campers would be putting it mildly. But we had our instructions and took a perverse pride in getting that radar functional. We recalled that, in this instance, GEEIA must have been an acronym for "Get Every Eligible Idiot Available" and felt a little better. We made a pact with the two civilians, if they would get the PPI`s up and running we would fix the radar. We hooked up the PPI power and data cables, put a TS-505 voltmeter and the alignment manuals in their hands and then we turned our attention to the radar (thinking we had gotten the best part of that deal). First off we discovered that several coaxial cables in the receiver system were misrouted and others missing. The first floor (or deck, after all it was navy radar) had about three or four feet headroom between it and the ground. The big problem was that also on the island were lots of feral hogs. Several had been allowed access to the area under the tower. Now where you have hogs you have lots of, well you know, stuff that makes a bad smell and rhymes with spit. So the question was who was going under the tower to lay cables? I said fellows this is why the military invented RHIP, good luck and carry on. With large sheets of cardboard and an old pair of scrounged coveralls the job got done. It should go without saying that the opening to the hog pen got boarded over. Laboring on we slowly but surely gained ground on the problems. After being on the island two or three days we had taken it in stride when the civilians left early each afternoon. Their normal routine was working their eight hours, placing the system in standby, and repeating the routine the next duty day. We on the other hand would eat early breakfast, fix a couple of sandwiches each to take with us, work straight through and just make it to the dining hall before it closed. Our first Saturday on our way to breakfast we noticed that the base looked deserted. Entering the mess we found no one there. Shades of an Alfred Hitchcock movie! After several calls of "is anyone here?" a cook came from the back and we found that he and a couple of power plant operators were the only ones the navy left on the island over weekend periods. He told us that everyone else took the shuttle plane to the mainland each Friday afternoon. The cook being outnumbered agreed to make us breakfast! After eating we drove to the flight line where this mass exodus took place. What a sight! Every vehicle on the island was clustered around the operations building. It was as if the building had become a super magnet and all the vehicles were attracted to it waiting to be reclaimed on Monday morning.
We had free run of the island on weekends except for the restricted area just south of the radar tower. While working one morning we heard a KABOOM! And a few seconds later WHOOMP! The tower shook and the chain hoist chain falls beat a tattoo on the tower loading doors. Standing off shore was a cruiser firing its main guns into the restricted area gunnery range for a little bombardment practice. Unfortunately even the hogs were smart enough to stay out of that area. After a couple more days of gunnery practice the area became still once again. The days passed and we aligned, tweaked, adjusted, cabled, changed parts, cussed GEEIA, the Navy and, at last beat into submission that radar set.
Now we could start the solar method of bore sighting the antenna to determine the antenna`s true electrical azimuth and elevation. Now we were at work before sunrise and till after dark. After the first couple of days of solar data recording and reduction it began to look like we could complete the evaluation. I notified our team chief at squadron headquarters and shortly thereafter the other team members rejoined us on our island getaway. The UPA-35`s were operational and equipped with the AN/UPX-6 IFF/SIF code control boxes. Since there was no operations building, we converted the tower first floor into a makeshift one. Taping cardboard over the windows and with the ceiling lights off it was light proof enough for the team photographer to take the needed pictures of the PPI video displays. Radio linkage to the aircraft that flew the needed flight patterns was hooked up through Navy radio equipment. Over the next several days we enjoyed a more relaxed work pace. On our way to and from the main base we explored side roads that were little more than wheel tracks across the dry vegetation. We discovered a large earthen dam had been constructed across the mouth of a goodly sized canyon. A road crossed the top of the dam. However, apparently no one informed the engineers that the island received little or no rainfall, as it was completely dry and as evidenced by the brush growing in the canyon, had been so for some time. (Every Wednesday a supply barge docked at the main base and necessary supplies, which included water, fuel, and food, was unloaded).
At last we recorded our last evaluation flight data and returned control of the radar to the two civilians. A debriefing of the evaluation was scheduled with the responsible Navy unit commander and staff at US Naval Air Station, San Diego. Capt. Burkard and I were soon on the next morning shuttle plane and that same afternoon conducted the outbriefing. Included in that briefing we predicted that, at the present level of manning and expertise the radar would be degraded below minimum standards in 30 days. We had to remain over night and the next morning checked in with base ops, where we had been informed transport would be arranged to return us to SCI. After a short wait a pilot collected us and took us to a Grumann S-2F Tracker Anti-Submarine Warfare aircraft where we found seats in the electronic operator`s positions, just behind the cockpit. The pilot told us in case of ditching, to wait till the third bounce, throw open the overhead hatches and get out fast as the bird would sink like a rock. With that comforting thought we endured bone shaking, full throttle engines wind up on the runway threshold and in seconds popped up off the runway. Following a short flight we were landing at SCI. Again the navy relayed that arrangements had been made to provide an aircraft to ferry all of us to the mainland. That evening at just about dusk, a navy CH-46D Sea Knight helicopter arrived. Soon we were landing on the Naval Air Station. The next morning after an over night stay on station, we were bussed to the commercial airport. Arriving back at Hill AFB a few hours later we could finally put closure to the 30 day TDY that should have been only seven days long. Interestingly enough we never did learn why the Navy wanted long-range search radar on San Clemente Island.
My tour with the Evaluation Squadron was richly rewarding. I had graduated from the ADC NCO Academy and completed a six-week school on the AN/FSS-7 Sea Launched Ballistic Missile warning radar. I served a stint as the unit First Sergeant, participated in many radar evaluations, and was the first NCO Team Chief to conduct evaluations. As icing on the cake, I was selected with minimum time in grade, for promotion to E-8 and E-9. If given the opportunity I would do it all over again (although I would have to think twice about those C-119 flights).
Jay C. Phillips CMSgt., USAF (RET)