The White Falcon - 10.06.1961, Blaðsíða 3

Saturday, June 10, 1961
WHITE FALCON
AFNR 66 Features
Long Pass, Other
Air Force Events
Air Force News Review #66
features a joint Army-Air Force
training exercise, Long Pass. In-
volved in this exercise are ele-
ments of Strategic Army Corps,
a Composite Air Strike Force
from TAC and men and aircraft
from MATS Global Airlift Force.
Some 1,300 combat troops and
1,000 tons of equipment are moved
from the U. S. and Hawaii to
Clark AFB in the Philippines.
Reservists of the 403d Trans-
port Wing at Selfridge AFB de-
monstrate their readiness to do
a job on short notice when they
are activated for a short tour to
bring a group of 40 C-119s back
to the U. S. from Dreux Air Base
near Paris.
Other items include — Fort
Walton Beach Has Own F-102
First T-38 Talon Joins ATC
ATC Notches AF Cage Crown
Airmen Launch Blue Scout.Run-
ning time is 14 minutes.
The Feature Film Brief “Sec-
onds for Survival,” running time
28 minutes, shows how the United
States Air Force maintains a con-
stant state of combat readiness
in all theaters on a round-the-
clock basis.
Raymond Massey describes the
NORAD-SAC Alert System and
USAF Operational Readiness.
Commander Shepard Is First
To File ‘First Pilot Report’
U.S. Astronaut Alan B. Shep-
ard’s historic suborbital flight
aboard the Mercury capsule Free-
Olafur 1. Hannesson skrifar um:
Hitt eg Jtetta
Eins og kunnugt er, rekur varn-
arliSiS radarstoSvar her a landi
utan Keflavikurflugvallar. fig
hafSi J>a anaegju fyrir skommu
aS heimssekja radarstoSvarnar a
Straumnesfjalli og Stokksnesi.
Samgongur vi6 Straumnesfjall
eru afar erfiSar a veturna. StoSin
er staSsett yzt a fjallsbrun. Fari6
er a bati fra IsafirSi til Jjessarar
afskekktu stoSvar me5 viSkomu i
ASalvik, sem er litiS, yfirgefifi
sjavarjjorp, tildraS niSur i vik og
umkringt hrikalegum fjollum. Fra
ASalvik er siSan fariS meS sleSa,
sem fest er i velytu. SiSasti spol-
urinn fra ASalvik til stoSvarinn-
ar liggur eftir mjoum, bugSottum
troSningi upp fjalliS. Ekki Jjykir
tiltokumal fcott troSningur Jjessi
se tiSum tepptur aS vetrarlagi
sakir snjoa, svo aS jafnvel velytan
fser ekki brotizt gegnum fimbul-
snaevi Jjetta. Sjalft ferSalagid tek-
ur um J)aS bil 1% klst.
Ellefu Islendingar vinna nu viS
stoSina, en starfi fceirra mun bratt
ljuka, bar eS ratsjarstoSin hefir
veriS logS niSur.
Svo aS vikiS se aS Keflavikur-
flugvelli skal Jiess getiS aS ymsar
breytingar hafa att ser staS hvaS
starfsfolk snertir.
Til aS mynda hefir Ruben Peter-
sen veriS raSinn yfirmatreiSslu-
maSur a veitingastofunni a flug-
vallarhotelinu. Pa hefir Lorvald-
ur Stefansson veriS raSinn verk-
stjori i bv°ttahusinu og FriSrik
G. Johannsson framkvEemdastjori
i motuneyti liSsforingja. Bjarni
Kristjansson, velaverkfrasSingur,
hefir veriS raSinn til star fa hja
verkfraeSideildinni, og1 SigriSur
Sigurb j arnadottir, skrif stof umaer
hja launautreikningadeild.
Samkvsemt upplysingum fra
launautreikningadeildinni verSur
gjaldkeri deildarinnar framvegis
viS fra kl. 8:30 til 12:00 og 13:00
til 15:30 fra manudegi til fostu-
dags, a laugardogum fra kl. 9:30
til 12:00 a hadegi.
It is well known that the De-
fense Force operates radar sta-
tions off base in this country.
I was fortunate enough a short
time ago to visit the radar sta-
tions on Straumnesfjall and at
Stokksnes. Communications with
Straumnesfjall are quite difficult
during the winter months. The
station is located on the very
brink of a mountain ridge. The
journey from Isafjordur to this
remote site is made by a boat,
which takes one to Adalvik, a
small seashore village ensconced
in a small inlet, surrounded by
jagged mountains. There one em-
barks a sleigh which is hitched
to a bulldozer. This last stretch
from Adalvik to the site leads up
to a narrow, winding trail up the
mountain. Needless to say this
trail is frequently blocked in the
winter time by snow, so that even
the bulldozer cannot break through
this white barrier. The trip itself
up the mountain takes about an
hour and a half.
Back to the base where several
changes of personnel have occur-
red. Thus Ruben Petersen has
been promoted to chief cook in
the Terminal Restaurant. Thor-
valdur Stefansson has been pro-
moted to foreman in the Base
Laundry and Fridrik Johannsson
has now become Manager of the
Officers’ Field Ration Dining
Hall.
Bjarni Kristjansson, mechani-
cal engineer, has been hired by
CERON, and Sigridur Sigurbjar-
nardottir, clerk, was recently en-
gaged by the Civilian Payroll Of-
fice.
According to information from
Civilian Payroll the cashier of
the section will be in from 8:30
a.m. till 12:00' noon and from
1:00 p.m. till 3:30 p.m. Monday
through Friday and Saturday
from 9:30 a.m. till 12:00 noon.
dom 7 brought another first to
the annals of U. S. Air Force
weathermen. Shepard’s comments
on cloud cover over the Eastern
Seaboard within three minutes
after takeoff on the historic 15-
minute flight permitted the US-
AF Air Weather Service to file
the world’s first pilot report (PI-
REP) from space.
Before the astronaut landed the
2nd Weather Group at Langley
AFB, Va., had sent out Shep-
ard’s remarks from space as a
pilot report. The message read,
“East of Cocoa, Fla., at 9:37 a.m.
(Eastern Standard Time): on top,
three-eights cloud coverage, Co-
coa, Fla., to Cape Hatteras, N.C.,
Mercury capsule.”
Fed in weather code into USAF
weather teletype circuits, Shep-
ard’s historic pilot report read:
“LFI (for Langley) 1445Z PIR-
EP E COF 1437Z OTP % CLD
COVERAGE COF _ HAT MER-
CURY CAP.”
Within minutes, AWS weather-
men throughout the United States
had their first space pilot’s report
as an added bit of data for use
in forecasting the nation’s weath-
er for Air Force and Army activi-
ties.
RECEIVES SCHOLARSHIP
Peggy Jessup was named Honor Student of the 1961 graduates at
Keflavik and received a $500 scholarship from the University of
Oregon, and a $50 one from the Officers Wives Club. Lt. Danilo
Medigovich made the presentation.
Pensacola Base Boasts
Interesting Trio: Ghosts
Pensacola NAS, Fla. (AFPS) — The Navy, with its
super-carrier task forces, its guided missile destroyers and
deadly nuclear submarines, may have entered the space
age with a bristling roar of strength, but ghosts of the
past still persist—and at Pensa-®"
cola tradition has it that the
ghosts are blithe, unruly spirits
indeed.
There are three spirits in all,
according to NAS annals, and two
of them haunt the “Quarters A”
residence of Vice Adm. Robert
Goldwaite, Chief of Naval Air
Training. This large, impressive
building, built for a Navy com-
mandant in 1874, has since under-
Navy Contracts For
Communications
And Radar Systems
The Navy has awarded a $1,001,-
108 contract for airborne radar
systems to Texas Instruments,
Inc., Dallas, Texas.
The radar, designated AN/APS-
88, will be installed aboard car-
rier-based patrol planes. Lighter
and more compact than previous
similar systems, the AN/APS-88
will be used for antisubmarine
warfare, weather warning and
general purpose search.
It includes a plan position indi-
cator which provides a visual dis-
play of targets, sonobuoy beacon
replies, and IFF (identification-
friend or foe) replies. The radar
can also be used to map the extent
of storm fronts and to detect ter-
rain features such as mountains,
islands, and coast lines.
The Navy has also awarded two
contracts to Collins Radio Com-
pany, Dallas, Texas, one for de-
livery of communication, naviga-
tion and identification (CNI)
systems for use aboard jet air-
craft, and one for ground support
equipment for the CNI systems.
The CNI systems contract is
for $1,500,000 and the grounds
support equipment contract is for
$640,679.
The CNI system provides the
pilot with ultra-high frequency
radio communication, electronic
navigation aids, and equipment
for identifying the plane to friend-
ly tactical control units. CNI
systems will be used aboard the
Navy’s F4H-1 PHANTOM II
fighter, the A3J VIGILANTE
attack bomber, and the A2F IN-
TRUDER low-level attack bomb-
gone periodic alterations, but no
amount of modernization could, it
seems, banish a spectral party
known as “the Colonel” or his
faceless “Lady in White.”
In the last century, when
dreaded yellow fever epidemics
struck the area, it was custom-
ary on the base to cut off con-
tact with the surroundng ciount-
ryside, since little help could be
given. The Navy Yard’s com-
mandant during one of these
outbreaks, took this preventive
isolation with high seriousness.
“Colonel,” as he was nick-
named, ran the yard from the
small cupola above the big house,
having all his meals raised and
lowered to him in a basket with
a bottle of rum to ward off the
fever.
But one black day his faithful
servant forgot the rum. It was
then that the “Colonel” had a
premonition of death. Sure
enough, in another week the fev-
er had claimed him. But, says lo-
cal legend, his ghost still walks
in “Quarters,” as does the spirit
of a lovely lady who occupied a
ground floor room in the house
at the time. Always clad in white,
she is said to materalize with a
scarf over her head — for face
she has none.
Add to this interesting couple a
more modern revenant, a Capt.
Guy Hall who frequents an octa-
gonal building on the base which
in the 1920’s served as an offi-
cer’s club.
Nightly it was the scene of
heavy poker games in which the
catpain was a go-for-broke play-
er. One of his more annoying
habits is said to have been drop-
ping a stack of poker chips, one
by one, on the table top.
Capt. Hall was killed in a plane
crash, old Pensacola hands re-
member, but at Bldg. 16 his spirit
still drops in to kibitz and rattle
poker chips. Harmless enough —
but it unnerved the dog of an
admiral formerly stationed here.
At night the chips would rattle
eerily from within the silent old
building; the airedale would growl
and bark back fiercely, and peo-
ple in the vicinity would toss on
their pillows and vow that be-
tween ghosts and dogs, ghosts
were the most.
THE YOUNGEST GRADUATES
Ten members of the Keflavik Airport Nursery School grdauated here May 31, to become the first group
of children in the nursery school to undergo graduation ceremonies. Certificates were presented by
their teacher, Jane Gray, and refreshments were served to children, parents and guests at the affair.
From left to right the yonngsters are Nancy Fuller, Eggert Nielsen, Johanna Heezel, Shirley Morey,
David Zartman, Greta Heezel, Mark Franklin, Kellie Watkins, and Kevin Trimble.