The White Falcon - 09.04.1965, Blaðsíða 4

4
WHITE FALCON
Friday, April 9, 1965
TO THE RESCUE—The whirlybird brings the doctor to the rescue scene. Lt Jack C. Hoover, (MC),
U.S. Naval Station’s Navy flight surgeon (to the left of the picture with medical case) hurries to the
“injured” airman.
EXPLAINING EXERCISES—The two SAR volunteers in the exercise
tell of their experience in an informal briefing held in Armed Forces
Radio Station Studio “B”. The two men are MSgt. Cecil E. Ellis, 57th
Fighter Interceptor Squadron’s first sergeant and Lt. Col. James O.
Tyler, Air Forces Iceland, director of operations.
*
*
WAITING FOR WORD—Men involved in the Search And Rescue (SAR)
Exercise anxiously wait for the rescue aircraft’s sightings of the downed
air pilots or location of the parachute. They are (from left to right)
Henry E. Smallwood, CWO. Air Forces Iceland, OPCON duty officer,
Maj. Richard A. Fite, USA, Iceland Defense Force plans officer
(standing), Lt. Col. William M. Rowe, assistant chief-of-staff for
Operations and Plans, IDF, and Col. Leland S. McGowan, IDF chief-
of-staff.
-x
*
U.S. And Iceland:
Team-Up’ In
by Joseph Sc
Calm Before The Storm
It was a normal Saturday morning at the Operations Control
Center (OPCON), Hangar 831. The skies were sunny with scattered
clouds at 4,000 and 8,000 feet and the visibility was at 10 miles. At
7 a.m. a phone rang and the duty man received a distress message
from two pilots.
The pilots’ T-33 jet aircraft, on its way back from a routine flight,
had developed engine trouble at 9,000 feet, 90 miles northeast of
Keflavik.
Suddenly, OPCON lost radar contact with the plane about 75
miles northeast of Keflavik near Lake Thingvellir.
What to do?
This was the question answered by the rescue operations and the
men involved in the Search And Rescue (SAR) drill held April 3 at
U.S. Naval Station, Keflavik.
SAR Exercise Unfolded
The SAR Exercise, conceived by Lt. Col. William M. Rowe, USAF,
assistant chief of staff for Operations and Plans, Iceland Defense
Force, and Project Officer, was so secret that only three U.S. offi-
cers fully knew the exact plans of the exercise. Only about 12 other
top echelon officials had knowledge of parts of the plan.
The whole exercise utilized the services of the Navy, Marines, Air
Force and the Icelandic Ground Rescue Force.
The rescue mission planned to utilize the 57th Fighter Interceptor
Squadron’s F-102 “Red” aircraft, the VP-56 SP-2H Neptunes and the
Naval Station’s C-47.
In order to make the exercise a little more difficult, the Naval
Station’s SH-34J Helicopters were not to be used until the downed
airmen were located.
On the ground the Marines’ Ground Rescue Team together with
the Icelandic Ground Rescue Force would go into the terrain and
rescue the victims.
Volunteers Fully Knew Of Plan
The two volunteer Air Force pilots were Lt. Col. James O. Tyler,
director of operations at Air Forces Iceland and MSgt. Cecil E. Ellis,
first sergeant of the 57th Fighter Interceptor Sq.
Sergeant Ellis, who had been trained for Arctic Rescue operations,
took part in escape and evasion exercises in West Germany and parti-
cipated in desert survival in the Lybian and Sahara Deserts while
at Wheelus, AFB, Libya.
Both men had to find valid excuses for leaving their jobs early
Friday and, being fishing* enthusiasts, used the excuse of going
fishing to leave the base with the least suspicion.
The only other information given to OPCON by Colonel Rowe
was that the aircraft flamed out at the north end of Thingvellir,
approximately 75 northeast of Keflavik, and that the two crew-
men parachuted in white chutes and one pilot had an injured back.
OPCON Takes Action
The OPCON Senior Watch Officer, LCdr Lester L. Reardon, USN,
received the simulated emergency call and immediately put rescue
operations into action.
The 57th’s two F-102 Red Alert fighters were to deploy and fly
at 2,000 feet above the terrain around the crash area to spot the
downed parachute.
VP-56’s SP-2H Neptune was to patrol at 1,000 feet above the land-
scape in search of the parachute, while the C-47 was to search in
the area at 1,500 feet. Crew 7’s Neptune, the first aircraft in the
air, taxied off in 15 minutes.
The search and rescue planes were to keep in contact with OPCON
Central and Rescue Six (R-6), the Icelandic Rescue Center, Reykjavik
Tower, as to the whereabouts of the parachute and aid in plotting
the rescue parties’ itinerary.
When the chute or survivors were spotted, they were to report the
position to both Centrals and return to the base.
Nature didn’t make the search by air that simple.
A heavy temporary blanket of low altitude clouds caused some of
the search planes to fly at higher altitudes making it impossible to
see the terrain, let alone a parachute.
Besides, the area around Lake Thingvellir was spotted with white
patches of snow.
< Rescue Parties On Move
Meanwhile, the Marine Rescue Party was being readied to meet the
Icelandic Ground Rescue Force in Reykjavik.
At Reykjavik Tower, the Icelandic Rescue Party, made up of high
school and college volunteers, prepared to rescue the downed pilots.
At 9:40 a.m. they departed toward Thingvellir leaving two men at
the Tower to proceed with the Marine contingent.