The White Falcon - 04.03.1961, Side 1
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Volume XI, Number 9
Headquarters, Air Forces Iceland, Keflavik Airport, Iceland—A MATS Unit Saturday, March 4, 1961
Kitted Jht
Sgt. Bizet, foreman of the
News Room here at KA comes
up with this one. Bizet recom-
mends that each person assign-
ed, when leaving, take a small
rock along with him. Then
when he gets to McGuire, place
it at some designated spot.
This mound of rocks would
stand as a memorial to those
who have served in Iceland.
* * *
A second SAC unit, the 305th
Bomb Wing at Bunker Hill AFB,
Ind., is converting from slower
B-47 bombers to the supersonic
B-58 Hustlers.
The 305th will receive its first
B-58 in May and will be fully
equipped with its 40 plane com-
plement by May 1962.
Twenty KC-135 refueling tank-
er planes already are in place at
Bunker Hill.
The 43d Bomb Wing at Cars-
well AFB, Tex., was the first to
receive the Hustler.
* * *
The officers and men of the
attack transport Paul Revere,
along with the ship’s embarked
Marines of Bit. 1-9, have set
a new Navy record for blood
contributions by donating 261
pints of blood to the Manila
blood bank. The response to
the call was so great that some
100 volunteers had to be turn-
ed down when bottles ran short.
* * *
A 30x65 feet glass-walled room
at Vandenberg AFB, Calif, houses
equipment similar to that in an
actual blockhouse on a missile
site. It provides crew trainees
with ways to practice checkout,
readiness monitoring, and count-
down procedures.
Using the simulator, the mis-
sileman learns proper procedures
before being assigned to training
with an ATLAS E operational
crew.
^
Amid the tumult of missiles
and supersonic aircraft, the
Navy is pausing to look back
some 200 years to the days of
early, lighter-than-air flight
and the original hot-air balloon.
Navy researchers are studying
the balloon for possible applica-
tion in military construction,
transport and supply opera-
tions.
* * *
For those of you who might
be interested, there is only one
Friday 13th, during the rest
of 1961. It will occur in Oct-
ober. And if you haven’t not-
iced, there are only 302 days
left in the year.
BOTTLE FIND
SSgt. Robert F. Calaway holds the 200th anniversary Guinness Stout
bottle he found while beachcombing near Keflavik Airport. The certifi-
cate from “King Neptune” held by SSgt. Everett E. Eldridge was in
the souvenir bottle. — U.S. Air Force Photo by A1C Billy N. Thurman.
21 Masters
Get Upgrade
The chevron counter at the Keflavik Airport Base Ex-
change was doing a land-office business Wednesday morn-
ing when 21 sergeants were notified of promotion to the
$-------------------------------
“super” grades.
Keflavik has an even dozen new
chief master sergeants and nine
new senior masters.
The promotions were effective
Mar. 1.
Adding their eighth and final
stripe were SMSgts. Roy E. Allen,
667th AC&W Sq; Harold F. Beat-
ty, Hq Sq AFI; George T. Con-
boy, Jr., 932nd AC&W Sq; Fred-
erick F. Jones, CAMRON; Char-
les W. Kramer, Air Base Sq;
Joseph D. Kubilus, CAMRON;
Art. J. Langlier, Air Base Sq;
Hobert K. Pederson, Hq Sq AFI;
Steven P. Wolski, Transportation
Sq; Edward C. Faria, Hospital;
George M. Whitman, Hospital;
and Albert W. Froeschle, 667th
AC&W Sq.
Moving on up the ladder and
adding rocker number one were
MSgts. Delos G. Hartwig, CAM-
RON ; Paul K. Knepp, CAMRON;
James Patterson, Hospital; Frank
J. Schauffle, Air Base Sq; Ric-
hard M. Smith, Supply; J. B.
Brooks, Hq Sq AFI; and James
O. Tate, Hq Sq AFI.
Two masters who have already
derosed were also named on the
promotion list. They were Bern-
ard J. Bookhammer, now at Kees-
ler, and Leonard J. McFarland
stationed at Englewood, Calif.
MATS Flyer
Prints Story
Of AACS Here
An excellent feature, written by
a former member of the 1971st
AACS Squadron here at Keflavik
Airport, is published in the Feb-
ruary issue of the MATS Flyer.
Written by TSgt Gordon S.
Hall, the story graphically brings
to fore the importance of remain-
ing prepared at all times to carry
out the duties assigned.
In the story, Hall tells of the
preparations of bringing a C-118
with 60 passengers down safely
and the manner in which this is
accomplished.
The setting is snow, very limi-
tes visibility, and an aircraft with
two engines out.
KA Beachcombers
Find Strange Bottle,
Other Sea Souvenirs
By SSgt. John W. Horky
Three NCO’s of 1400th CAMRON at Keflavik Airport
were surprised recently to find a bit of Ireland while on
a beachcombing expedition near this northern NATO base.
Staff Sgts. Robert F. Calaway^
and Everett E. Eldridge and SM-
Sgt. Gordon F. Wood were adding
to their collections of miscellane-
ous sea-tossed objects when Cala-
way saw a capped brown bottle.
The bottle contained a roll of
papers but the unusual design of
the somewhat sand-worn glass
was what first caught the atten-
tion of the beachcombers. The in-
Better Wait!
Air Forces Iceland received
the MATS Outstanding Unit
Award for its perfect flying
safety record in 1960, as stated
in the White Falcon last week.
Information received here so
far indicates this is a MATS
flying safety award and not
the Air Force Outstanding Unit
Award. However, an inquiry has
been sent to Headquarters
MATS requesting clarification.
AFI personnel are, therefore,
cautioned not to wear the rib-
bon indicating award of the
USAF decoration until the final
word is received.
scription read “1759 - 1959 —■
Special Bottle Drop (Atlantic
Ocean) to celebrate and commem-
orate Guinness Bicentenary —
1959.”
The contents of the bottle in-
cluded a special 200th anniversary
Guinness Stout label and a color-
ful certificate “From the office
of King Neptune.” It granted per-
mission to “the House of Guinness
to cast in, and/or upon my Dom-
ain the bottle carrying this docu-
ment . . . . ”
Among the other papers in the
bottle were instructions on how
to make a lamp with the com-
memorative bottle, information on
“labology”—the collecting of bot-
tle labels, and an advertisement
for Ovaltine.
The bottle also included inter-
esting information on the brew-
ers of the beverage celebrating
its 200th anniversary, such as the
fact that the first Arthur Guin-
ness leased a brewery at St.
James’s Gate, Dublin, in 1759—
for a period of 9,000 years!
Beachcombing is one of the les-
(See Beachcombers, Page U.)
Extremely Mild Winter Ending;
Much Less Snow Than Is Usual
This past winter has been one
of the mildest at Keflavik Air-
port in nine years. Only 26 inches
of snow were recorded through
the end of February, while it is
usual to have up to 46 inches by
this time of the year.
Temperatures below 20 degrees
occurred on only five days this
winter, with a low of 17 degrees
recorded on Feb. 4 and 5. The ex-
treme minimum recorded in pre-
vious years was four degrees.
Winds during the past winter
were about normal, as was total
precipitation. However, because
of the mild temperatures most of
this fell as rain rather than snow.
The maximum average depth of
snow on the ground was seven
inches on one day before Chris-
mas. On only two days were there
four inches or more of snow on
the ground. In most winters at
Keflavik Airport there are at
least a few days with 10 to 15
inches of accumulated snow.
The few spring-like days tow-
ard the end of February may
have led some to believe the wint-
er was over, but the month ended
more briskly with frost and ice
on the morning of the 28th.
The outlook for March? Based
on previous years’ experience the
temperature could range between
extremes of 10 to 55 degrees with
a mean of 35.
However, whole months of
March have averaged as low as
27 degrees and as high as 44 in
Reykjavik. An average March at
Keflavik Airport has brought
seven days of snow totaling eight
inches. There are also chances of
snow in April.
During March daylight will in-
crease substantially from 10
hours and 12 minutes to 13 hours
and 26 minutes.
This extremely mild winter was
similar to that of last year. The
winters of 1951-52 and 1952-53
were also relatively mild, with
six intervening winters of more
severity.
Long range predictions of the
Keflavik Airport weather station
a joint Icelandic-American opera-
tion, call for more snow and cold-
er weather for the next two wint-
ers.
★ ★ ★ U.S. AIR FORCE — AEROSPACE POWER FOR PEACE ★ ★ ★