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Joseph W. Lindley
22 July 2009
Dear Gerry, Enjoyed reading about your time at Chanute AFB and at Wright-Patterson AFB. I recognized the picture of the CPS-9 tower at WPAFB which was next to the Security Police station, the jet engine test cell and the commissary parking lot. We put an FPS-77 radar antenna on the tower when they removed the CPS-9 radar in the mid-1970's. The tower was 110 feet tall with two upper platforms and only the rungs of a steel ladder to climb all the way to the top. You and I missed meeting at Wright-Patt by about a dozen years. I was at Chanute for 3-level school from 71-72, at Davis-Monthan AFB (AZ) from 72-75, then back to Chanute for 7-level technician school from 75-76, and finally Wright-Patterson from 75 to 91. I worked at the same weather maintenance shop in Wood City at WPAFB. It was an old medical clinic building across from the NCO Club and next to the railroad tracks. We were working on the CPS-9and the FPS-77 replacement weather radars, plus the GMQ-11 and 20 windspeed and direction systems plus the various wind indicators and recorders, the TMQ-11 Temp-Humidity, GMQ-10 Transmissometer, GMQ-13 Ceilometer, mercurial and aneroid barometers, and more. When I arrived in 1975, Det 15, 15 WS was for local weather support, Det 2, 6WS was for the intermediate weather equipment repair, and a 2 WS detachment with a few maintenance technicians for research weather system support in area B (Wright Field). But, all good things changed, and we were transferred from AWS in the late 70's to AFCS and the weather maintenance was all combined into the Det 5, 6WS integrated weather maintenance shop. But, we still traveled across the midwest and east coast to provide support to the local weather maintenance guys. Eventually the intermediate maintenance shops at McGuire AFB (NJ), Tinker AFB (OK), Ellsworth AFB (SD), and Robbins AFB (GE) were closed and their responsibilities consolidated at WPAFB during the 1980's. We picked up depot level repair support for the FPS-103 tactical weather radar (a 400 HZ aircradt based weather radar much like the AQP-13), all GMD's (1-4), the RVR-400, and the tactical weather equipment (TMQ-15, 20, and 22). But with growth we lost our facility in Wood City at WPAFB and we moved to a larger place over by the AFLC headquarters area. Now, these many years later, the memories are there but the situation has evolved even further down the road. So, coming across your web site was a nice nostalgic trip for me!
Jane Hutchkins
8 April 2009
Hi Gerry, my name is Jane Hutchins, nee Janet Macarthur. I lived in Wewak, NG at the time these photos were taken, I was 12 yrs old. You can not imagine my excitement when I came across the photos of Wewak. As I remembered it, but time fades. And I have no photos. Only family..
I lived there from 1960 to 1964-65. I
was born in Lae, NG 1951 and my parents were transferred to Wewak 1960, I
remember you worked under a big green tent on the oval am I right.
Once again. Gerry thanks for those
precious memories.
from Jane Hutchins.
Henry Cyr
22 February 2009
Great site which brought back many memories. I was also a Bomb Nav student at Lowry from Jul 59 to Mar 60. Mather AFB in Sacramento, Ca for the remainder of my four years. Some members of our class also went to Juarez for the same holiday. We went in an old Plymouth convertible which had its top blown off by an oncoming tractor trailer truck in the middle of a snow storm just outside of Las Vegas, NM. Thanks for recalling some good memories
Pete Givens
28 January 2009
What a great website you have! I
served in the Air Force from 1969 to 1973, with duty at Hill AFB Range,
in Utah, and Udorn AFB, at Udon-Thani, in Thailand. Working in weather
equipment repair was a lot of fun. I shouldn't have been paid for this
"work," but who was I to turn the pay down? Loved the Rawinsonde and
Rotating Beam Ceilometer the best. My kind of toys! I used to spend up
to 12 hours a day, voluntarily working on restoring portions of the
rawinsonde. The one I was assigned to in Utah, had inoperative distance
tracking on it. It was a joy to work on it, and solving the tracking
problem was thrilling. I spent two weeks on that repair. Many things
were wrong with it. We had the luxury of having helium balloons. We used
the heater that conditioned the balloon to cook lunch. There is another
rawinsonde launching facility at Salt Lake City. Back in my time, the
fellow that inflated the balloons there, with hydrogen, was an
inveterate smoker. You guessed it, his cigarette burnt into the balloon
and caused a burst of fire. Once was bad enough, but he did it once
more, too. Apparently, he did rather fire up, than quit. Our Hill AFB
range site, adjacent to the Bonneville Salt Flats, was also a nice zoo.
We had jack rabbits, pelicans, and others which I cannot recall at this
time. One funny story at this range site was this: It was a nice, quiet
day, with mostly no wind at all. A bird flew over towards the weather
site, and landed on one of the arms of the spin cups of the wind sensor.
He was quite happy there, chirping away. Later on, a wind came up, and
those spin cups started whirling around. The bird hung on for a while as
he experienced a very fast merry-go-round. At last, he let go and landed
softly on terra firma, and walked around in a daze. Later on still, he
took off, and thankfully was in much better shape. I also picked up a
jackrabbit that was injured, and took him back to our regular base, near
Ogden. I kept him in my dormitory closet, and fed him salads from the
dining hall. He loved those tomatoes, much more than carrots.
Fortunately, my commander never detected him in his walkthrough
inspections. After the rabbit got better, I put him out into the desert
once more. I wondered how he felt about getting those great red
tomatoes. Maybe he thought he was dreaming. Serving in the Air Weather
Service was more than just repairing complex electronics equipment; it
was a wonderful lifestyle.
Charlie Skillman
2 December 2008
I was stationed at Greenville AFB in 1961 as I was going to Personnel Specialist School at Greenville AFB. It was only a 3 month school and there was of course Firefighters School there too and I believe some kind of a medical school there too. There were very few planes of any kind that came there when I was there in May 1961 to Sept 1961. The base had a recreation center, gym, and snack bar on the flight line, which we all visited everyday. One incident I remember was being on area guard duty with 4 other airman. We were told to stop anyone coming in our area to make sure they belonged there. One night while on duty an intruder tried to pull a fast one and slip into the area. We the are guards didn't have any weapons and carried a flashlight with a big hard piece of plastic on the end and so when one of the other area guards yelled that there was an intruder and we didn't know what he was up to. We were instructed to stop anyone not authorized by our squadron commander. He started running and was hemmed in by the 4 guards on duty. He wouldn't stop so one of the area guards threw his flashlight at him and hit him square in the back and down he went. When we surrounded him and had someone in authority come, we found out that it was our squadron commander and he was just testing us to see how we might respond. He was pleased at our response but I bet he never tried his area guards ever again. He had a horrible looking swelling on his back and I'm sure it was painful. I suppose that probably taught the older commander not to try that again when he was young himself but he couldn't outrun his younger airman and boy did he pay for that training with us. He was wearing civilian clothes and trying to see what his young airman might do in a certain situation. I wish I could remember his name or any of the other 4 area guards guarding the barracks and the airman sleeping in them.
Stuart D. Nelson
Bill Snell
James R. Ishmael
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