The White Falcon - 13.05.1961, Blaðsíða 3

Saturday, May 13, 1961
WHITE FALCON
3
AF, Navy Men
Are Guests On
Fishing Jaunt
Six Air Force sergeants and a
Navy chief petty officer were
guests of three Icelandic fishing
boat owners last week for an aft-
ernoon of deep sea fishing.
The charter boat, a newly-cre-
ated business in Iceland belongs
to three Icelandic Airlines cap-
tains.
Although there was a heavy
ground swell during the trip,
each of the fishermen caught his
share of cod and haddock. Chief
Jack A. Yaggie took the honors
for the biggest catch by reeling
in a 10-pound cod.
Others who went along on the
trip included Sgts. James 0. Tate,
George J. Weidemar, Vincenzo J.
Righi, Marion E. Waldron, Char-
les M. O’Rourke, and L. E. Hend-
rix.
Arrangements for the trips
were made by MSgt. Ed Schurr
and the boat was piloted by Cap-
tain Siggi Teitsson of Reykjavik.
Chartering the boat includes
tackle, bait, and all the other
necessities.
Arrangements to charter the
boat may be made by calling Stan
Roth at extension 2143.
Heavyweights
Test Landing
On Ocean Ice
A potential major break-through
in air base construction—the use
of thick ocean ice in polar regions
as airstrips—is undergoing tests
in Greenland.
Doing the testing are some of
the “hardware heavyweights” of
the Air Force, C-130s, F-102s,
KC-135s, B-47s and B52s.
Just off Thule AB, Greenland,
these aircraft are operating from
a 14,000 foot runway of natural
ice. This and several 200 and 500
foot circular parking pads were
constructed by USAF in the ice
fields of North Star Bay as part
of a research program in engin-
eering.
This is the first time that heavy
jets and Century series fighters
have used an ocean ice airfield
under actual operating conditions.
The prospect of using ice to
construct Arctic landing strips
and parking areas has been under
consideration for some time. The
Geophysics Research Directorate
of the Air Force’s Cambridge Re-
search Laboratories is carrying
out this project. The organization
expects to learn more about the
strength and other engineering
properties of ice and how they
can be improved.
Air Force scientists are trying
to determine the effect of such
traffic on the ice deformation, its
strength, density, elasticity, creep
and grain structure.
Called “Projective leeway,”
tests started in January with the
construction of the platforms and
are scheduled to continue until
the middle of June.
The runway, near Thule AB,
was constructed of natural ice.
The parking pads, which are lo-
cated on the shoreline end of the
runway were built by flooding.
One pad was constructed of nat-
ural sea water; the others in-
corporate strands of fiberglass, a
reinforcement technique develop-
ed by the Geophysics Research
Directorate.
NCO WIVES INSTALL OFFICERS
Newly-elected officers to the Keflavik Airport NCO Wives Club were
installed at ceremonies at the club last week. They are, (1-r) Mmes.
Retha Cordell, treasurer; Dee Franklin, secretary; Adeline Miller,
president; Frankie Hudson, vice president; and Mabel Patterson,
parliamentarian.
$I2 Billion Defense Bill
Authorized By Congress
A $12 billion authorization for procurement of missiles,
aircraft and naval vessels has been approved by the House
Committee on Armed Services. Committee Chairman Carl
Vinson (D-Ga.) calls the bill (H.R. 6151) the largest single
authorization in the history of^
Congress.
The actual authorization am-
ounts to $12,368,000,000 and is
$393.2 million above the original
figure requested by President
Kennedy. The Kennedy request
was some $1.5 billion over the
amount former President Eisen-
hower had asked for. The net re-
sult is that well over $1.5 billion
in additional monies are authoriz-
ed for Defense Department hard-
ware items by the house com-
mittee.
The added authorization would
finance the following USAF pro-
curement programs:
0 Continued production of B-
52 and B-58 bombers.
° Procurement of 15 C-135 jet
transports for MATS.
° Procurement of three Special
Air Mission jet airplanes.
The breakdown on aircraft aut-
horization was: Air Force $3,670,-
200,000; Navy and Marine Corps
$1,585,600,000; Army $211,000,000.
The missile breakdown was:
Air Foi-ce $2,792,000,000; Navy
$606,400,000; Marine Corps $27,-
000,000; Army $550,800,000.
Naval vessel procurement total-
ed $2,925,000,000.
Graduate...
(Continued from Page 1.)
Wright will continue his extensive
military education by attending
the Command and General Staff
College, Ft. Leavenworth, Kans.
After completing that couse he
plans off-duty work toward his
MA degree.
The pursuit of formal educa-
tion has not interfered with the
colonel’s home study of military
subjects. He is the proud posse-
sor of more than 3,000 volumes
of professional military books in-
cluding rare 18th and 19th cen-
tury editions.
Before reporting to the Com-
mand and General Staff College,
Col. Wright will spend a thirty-
day leave with his father, a Texas
cattleman, who is studying for a
law degree—at the age of 72.
“While it may well be true that
the intercontinental ballistic mis-
sile may at some time in the fu-
ture provide our principal means
of deterrence and our greatest
offensive capability, that time has
not come yet,” Chairman Vinson
explained in a statement to the
press as to why emphasis contin-
ues to be placed on manned air-
craft.
Referring to the B-70 cut-back,
Chairman Vinson commented.
“This cut in the B-70 program
caused the committee some con-
cern at first, but we found that
the Kennedy program will permit
an orderly development of the B-
70, and will provide an opportun-
ity to find out a great many
things about it which must be
known before the final decision
on its complete development can
be made.”
Fishing Camp Opens For Summer;
Service Club Making Reservations
A three-day fishing trip, plus a long scenic drive, is
in store for persons stationed at Keflavik Airport, and it’s
all free for the asking. Personnel Services announced this
week that the Fishing Camp located at the Hvalfjordur
Security Camp is now in opera-^
tion and reservations to make the
trip may be made by signing up
at the Viking Service Club.
All reservations are made on
a first-come-first-served basis, ac-
cording to Maj. John F. Shaugk
nessy, personnel services officer.
A recreation pass or permissive
TDY is the first step in the rou-
tine. Next is signing up at the
Club.
There are three trips arranged
each week with persons going by
11 Students
Are Honored
At Banquet
Eleven Keflavik Airport stud-
ents were honored with Scholastic
Achievement awards last week at
a banquet held at the Civilian
Club.
The presentations were made
by Col. Myron F. Barlow, chief
of staff, Air Forces Iceland.
Students who received the hon-
or were Lts. John Salter and John
Rutherford of 57th FIS; TSgt.
Arthur F. Hawks, AACS; A2C
David Newcomb, 932nd AC&W
Sq; A2C Jack Cate and A3C Ro-
bert Todd, CAMRON; Lawrence
Lowell and Helga Jonsdottir, Hq
A FI; and Paul Seely and Mar-
garet Clark, dependents.
The highlight of the evening
was a Scholastic Achievement
trophy to Lt. Col. Elam W.
Wright, chief of plans, Hq IDF.
Col. Wright, while stationed at
Keflavik Airport, has successful-
ly completed 13 courses through
the University of Maryland and
earned “A’s” in all of them. This
noteworthy achievement resulted
in Col. Wright being placed on
the Dean’s List at the university.
Professor C. R. Orr, UM resi-
dent lecturer, assisted Col. Barlow
in making the presentations.
Six students from the Univer-
sity of Iceland were guests at
the banquet.
Young Flying Officer Is Honored
With Highest Civilian Valor Award
A young Air Force lieutenant
with only five years service has
won the Valor Award for 1960
from the American Legion’s fam-
ed Aviation Post 743 in New
York City.
At ceremonies May 10, 1st Lt.
Joseph T. Long was cited for his
heroics and airmanship in bring-
ing safely home a burning plane,
thereby saving the lives of 16
crewmembers.
Such notables as TV star Arth-
ur Godfrey, a former naval flier,
and other well known personages
belong to New York City’s Avia-
tion Post 743. The men they hon-
or with their annual valor award
are chosen with an expert’s eye
by men who also flew under great
hardships.
Lieutenant Long’s heroic flight
over the Atlantic Dec. 20, 1960
already has received Air Force
recognition with the award of the
Distinguished Flying Cross. Mak-
ing this award, Gen. Thomas D.
White, Air Force chief of staff,
described Lieutenant Long’s flight
as “one of the most outstanding
displays of airmanship I know.”
The young officer’s flight log
speaks for itself.
Over the Atlantic, 400 miles out,
in a four engine RC-121D radar
picket aircraft at 10,000 feet
number three engine burst into
flames.
The feathering control failed.
The engine windmilled danger-
ously, At 4,500 feet in a cloud
bank an explosion occurred.
Deciding to ditch at sea, the
lieutenant changed his mind when
the engine burned off. The air-
craft made wild gyrations, chang-
ing heading by 30 degrees.
Somehow he managed to regain
control, get altitude and an ade-
quate cruising speed out of the
crippled giant.
On landing at Bermuda, one
tire, damaged by fire, blew on
touchdown. Lieutenant Long still
managed to hold the aircraft on
the runway during the landing
run, saving it and the equally
costly radar equipment.
commercial bus. The bus leaves
each Sunday, Tuesday and Fri-
day at 8:30 a.m. for the three-
hour scenic trip to the camp.
Fishermen register their catch
in order that a census may be
maintained on the number of fish
caught.
There are boats and motors to
accomodate 30 fishermen, and
rods, reels and tackle may be pro-
cured at the camp. However, fish-
ermen may take their own tackle
if they prefer.
A note of caution: Strong winds
are liable to blow up at any time
on the lake and everyone must
check out life preservers before
going out. Horseplay, or racing
of boats will not be tolerated.
Persons are also cautioned that
they are not permitted to stop in
towns along the way, nor is fish-
ing allowed along the route.
Officers Must
See Their ER
Official Told
No effectiveness reports will be
placed in any officer’s file with-
out his first being made aware of
the reporting official’s evaluation,
MATS Personnel officials have
stated.
The USAF Officer Personnel
Review branch has notified all
major commands that they have
received numerous complaints
from officers claiming they were
not given an opportunity to re-
view ER’s before they were for-
warded.
Personnel officers and com-
manders were reminded that und-
er the provisions of Air Force
Manual 36-10, it is the immediate
obligation of the reporting of-
ficial to review and discuss the
effectiveness report with the of-
ficer being rated.
When a report is made for an
officer on PCS orders, the report-
ing officer should discuss it with
the officer being rated before de-
parture. If this is not possible,
the officer then will be furnished
a copy of the ER by letter.
Air Force Studies
Atom Space Plant
Washington (AFPS)—The pos-
sibility of an atomic power plant
for space travel and missile uses
is now under study by the Air
Force, according to Brig. Gen. I.
L. Branch, Asst. Deputy Chief of
Staff in charge of development
for nuclear systems.
“We are interested,” he said,
“in exploiting the nuclear rock-
et for military application as an
upper stage, an in-space pro-
pulsion device and possibly as
a single stage launching sys-
tem.”
Specific requirements for a nu-
clear engine have yet to be out-
lined. The initial specific impulses,
the heavy pay-load and high velo-
city characteristics of nuclear
rockets indicate a capability which
currently unachievable, the
general concluded.