1958 - HISTORY OF THE 934TH AIRCRAFT CONTROL AND WARNING SQUADRON

1 JANUARY to 30 JUNE 1958

Prepared for the Historical Officer By Personnel of the 934th AC&W Squadron 1 July 1958

(1400th Operations Group, Iceland Air Defense Force)

TABLE OF CONTENTS Page

Preface ............................ ................................1

Operations. .......................................... . . . . . . . 2

Communications................................................. 3

Radar Maintenance . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..5

Supply.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Installations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Motor Transportation and Maintenance ............................ 8

Food Service ...................................................... 9

Medical. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

PREFACE

The 934th Aircraft Control and warning Squadron is located on Straumnes, a narrow mountain penensula extending into to Atlantic Ocean at the extreme northwest corner of Iceland. The site proper is 1,500 feet above sea level. An adjunct of it, the base camp, is located at the foot of the mountain 6.7 miles by road from the site

The mission of the organization is "to provide Aircraft Control and Warning requisite for the gathering of information on all friendly and enemy air activity, and the accurate and timely presentation of this information in a manner which will offer ready use by operation personnel in effective employment of assigned defensive or offensive measures.

OPERATIONS

The operational capabilities of this site remained dormant from 1 January 58 thru 15 January 58, due to parts not received to complete the installation of the antenna.

On 16 January 58 at 1200Z this site officially became operational. The awaited parts had arrived and were installed. The sets had been checked out and it was deemed that this site could become operational surveilance wise. At this time UHF and VHF were not operative and we had not received the plotting or status boards. When the boards finally arrived, we found them to be blanks. It was, therefore, necessary to draw up our own boards which, due to the lack of proper paints had to be filled in with grease pencils. This was accomplished during the latter part of February.

The prime difficulty in Operations was the lack of proper communications. All traffic was passed to H-l thru the High Frequency range (HF), which unfortunately does not have the capabilities of providing the mandatory twenty four hour contact. This condition, of course, should be relieved by the use of Tropo, which is not operational at this site.

During February VHF channels 121.5 and 126.18 were installed. These channels proved satisfactory for air to ground contact with aircraft at high altitudes (over 10,000 feet), but unsatisfactory at lower altitudes

On 27 March 1958, a C-54 was sent to H-4 for a calibration test. This test consisted of runs from the North, South, East, and West at 10,000 feet. The FPS-3 and VHF contact proved satisfactory. The

Operations Officer felt this calibration was not adequate as the 10,000 foot level was the only altitude the aircraft flew on the four runs.

As of the 26 April, the Ultra High Frequency range (UHF) became operational. The primary, AICC, and guard channels have been checked out with Sourdough and Navy aircraft and has proven satisfactory.

The OJT Program is in effect. Twelve (12) Airmen in the 27 career field were tested for the five (5) level and all passed in category A.

The greatest difficulty within operations has been ground to ground communications and the distribution of regulations.

During the months of April and June the 934th was assigned two (2) 1641's bringing the authorized personnel in this AFSC up to full strength.

COMMUNICATIONS

Communication Operations and Maintenance offically made it Is initial move to the RX building, with the permanent installation of high frequency (HF), point to point communications, consisting of two 400 watt BC-6l0 transmitters and the associated equipment. During late January and early February, there were no maintenance personnel on hand at this organization. The Communications Officer and the Bendix Tech. representative took it upon themselves to affect the installation of the point to point communication and the installation of part of the air to ground scheme. Provisions were made originally for an AF team to install all communication and installation of part of the air to ground equipment at this site, however due to a budget cutback this team was cancelled,

and it became the responsibility of the Communications Electronics Section to affect the operation of all communications.

February, brought new maintenance personnel to this organization, giving us 40% of our authorized strength. They were immediately given the task of completing, as far as equipment on hand permitted, the air to ground scheme programed for this site. With the initial VHF equipment already in place, the necessary cabling and wiring to remote this equipment to operations was completed 10 Feb. 58. Manpower authorization was brought to strength with the addition of three (3) maintenance men including one master sergeant during April. The installation of UHF was partially completed, Friday the 26th of Feb. 1958, with the installation of two (2) complete AN/GRC-27 UHF sets which gives this squadron the capibility of monitoring all air to ground committments, however, not all simultaneously.

Weather hampered operation from the RX building during the winter months, since the building was not completed. Hand carrying of water in five gallon gasoline cans was necessary for drinking and toilet since the same is not available at this building. Also due to the strong winds at this site approximately 40% of the windows were blown out of their frames. The heating of the RX building is a temporary arrangement with oil being pumped by hand into 'fifty gallon drums and then fed into tho furnace. Access to the RX building was perhaps the toughest obstacle to cope with. With the road closed, many nights were' spent by the personnel without shift relief. Their diet at this consisting of combat rations.

RADAR MAINTENANCE

In January Tech Supply was established by the Radar Section. Shelves were obtained and over 2,000 items were unpacked and shelved. Proper supply records were made and policies established in regards to issue and Turn-in of Tech supplies. Space was limited, however, and it wasn't until a later date that this section was moves and additional space acquired. A Tech Order File was established.

The Radar set AN/FPS-3 installation was completed on the 14th of January and a 120 hour "Hot Check" was initiated. Little difficulty was encountered relative to set operation, however, fluctuating power source did present an antenna rotation problem. The antenna would stop rotation every time the power would drop and it required the constant attention of the mechanic until power sources had been re-wired to correct difficulty.

on the 16 of January, a severe wind of 135 Knots destroyed the ML-444/FPS-3 Anemometer. A "Make Shift" one was fabricated from spare parts and an improvised case. It was installed three days later with satisfactory results .

The following projects were built during off duty hours by section personnel: Wood cable covers, shelves, cable racks, coffee bar and shop tool cabinet. A/2C Marcoe was awarded "Airman of the Month" for his outstanding contribution to these projects.

Difficulty was experienced in alignment of the 15-J1C Trainers. . The major reason was the lack of training and experience of the mechanics on this particular devise. Some of this difficulty was

to both Maintenance and Operations Personnel. Dehydrator units in both beams required constant attention during the month .

In February, forty minutes of "Red" time was accrued due to faulty receiver unit. As. time progressed improvement was noted.

An attempt to fabricate a vacuum cleaner for use in cleaning components. proved futile. The motor used had a 3,300 RPM rating, which was sufficient but the required suction could not be attained.

Tech Supply moved to a new location, which made it possible for enlargement. Radar Maintenance relieved of the responsibility of Tech Supply initiated formal training for all maintenance personnel was established on Friday mornings. This two hour class is used for refresher training, OJT and other related subjects.

SUPPLY

During the first part of 1958, the commanding officer inventoried property at the site and custody receipts based upon this inventory were issued to the responsible personnel. Since there were disagreements. between information on stock record cards and the inventory, a one time Inventory Adjustment Voucher was authorized to bring the account up to the date of the inventory. However immediate work on this. and the UAL EAM Listing change report was delayed by requisitioning and receipt of office and housekeeping supplies. as well as replacement parts for Tech Supply. During the period from 1 April to 30 June over One and one-third Million pounds of supplies, foodstuffs and petroleum products. were received at this station.

Requisitions to establish a stock level for the coming winter were all submitted by 15 June 1958.

In this period an area was set aside for the storage and issue of all expendable supplies. supply is now divided into four sections; (1) Tech Supply, (2) Expendable Supplies, (3) Tool Room and Personal Clothing, (4)General Warehouse Area

INSTALLATIONS

The snow storms during the month of January were moderate. The winds reached a velocity of 100 plus. It was during these wind storms that we had most of our troubles. One major problem was keeping the road open to RX and Tropo buildings. The snow removal equipment assigned to this site was inadequite. Several trips were made to Base camp for the purpose of getting supplies. These trips were made by D-8 and sled which was contracted to us by Iceland Prime Contractors and was our only means of transportation. The large vent over the transformers of the power building blew off which put this section in a bind as we did not have the materials for this type of repairs. A remodeled vent was erected when the weather permitted. Several times during February, March and April the water had to be turned off because of the well going dry. When the water storage tank got below the half mark we would use restricted water procedures. On 25 May the water storage tank level dropped to two feet four inches which left us with approximately 4,500 gallons of water. It was found that the deep well motor was running on a worn bearing. The motor was replaced with a spare one. This problem pointed cut how important spare parts are. The motor which was used to replace the burnt out motor was the only spare part for the complete water system at this

The unloading of supply carrying vessels has been carried on since spring thaws with over one million pounds of goods being unloaded as Adelvik Bay. This is accomplished with the use of the LCM-6 oil barge. Two disadvantages of this method are: (1) Unloading periods require a long time because of beaching LCM and barge in connection with high and low tides, (2) our D-7 Caterpillar is inadequate to use for beaching vessels. The help of a D-8 Caterpillar, belonging to the Icelandic Prime Contractors was used for this task.

A preventive maintenance program was established under Air Force Regulation 85-2, but has turned into a catch as catch can basis. The problem has been manpower. This progam would have been put into effect had we the number of required men.

MOTOR TRANSPORTATION AND MAINTENANCE

The month of January, Feburary and March were slow for the transportation section as the roads were closed. The furtherest point that could be driven was to the Rx building. The time could have been well spent in repairing vehicles that were out of commission, however, supply problems would not permit this.

In April Lt. Thorp arrived from the States and replaced Lt. Allison as Transportation Officer.

On May 16, the first boat arrived with supplies and the Motor Pool has been busy since carrying cargo up the hill. Most of the work and driving has been done by volunteer personnel This was necessary due to having only one airman assigned as a driver.

The greatest difficulty the Motor Pool has is the lack of vehicle

parts to put the vehicles assigned in proper running order. Of the twenty-three (23) vehicles assigned six (6) have been out of commission for this six month period. During this time we had to resort of cannibalization to keep the remaining seventeen (17) vehicles operational.

FOOD SERVICE

The squadron Dining Hall has been feeding approximately 125 men per meal per day with a total of four meals being served every twenty-four hours. The Dining Hall is open twice a day for coffee breaks, at 1000 hours and 1500 hours, each being twenty minutes. The Dining Hall also serves coffee after the supper meal until 0100 hours.

The food service section has seven (7) assigned personnel, with two kitchen police, assigned daily from a duty roster maintained by the First Sergeant.

Each Sunday only two meals are served. The breakfast meal from 0730 hours until 1300 hours and the supper meal from 1600 hours until 1800 hours.

Future plans for the Dining Hall are to repaint and have dividers for the Officer and NCO sections. Drapes and pictures have been ordered and the dividers are finished except for the painting.

The Dining Hall is inspected weekly by the Commander followed up by a weekly inspection by the Medical Department.

In the month of May approximately forty tons of food, dry and frozen was received.

MEDICAL

During the last six months there were two hundred and eighty three people treated for various diseases and injuries on an out patient status. Nine men had been hospitalized for a period of twenty four hours or more.

Because of the number of personnel that we had with dental problems a dentist was sent up from the main base. During his four week stay thirty men received dental work.

Dr. George Cameron, who arrived here in November 1957 on TDY was relieved in February by Dr. Silvery. Dr. Silvery was with us until April when he then returned to the main base hospital.

Our most serious illness during this period was a diagnosed case of appendicitis. The patient was flown out by plane the same day the diagnosis was made.

Complete X-ray equipment was received here in March, making it possible for the Medical Corpman to do a more complete job in the diagnosis of injuries.

Due to the lack of fresh produce received here, at our site, our Medical Corpman, T/Sgt George H Rice has placed vitamins on the Dining Hall tables so that all personnel may receive their daily requirements.

Water samples taken from our water sourace have been sent to the Base Veterinarian for analysis. The samples are taken from any point in the water system at three or four week intervals. Through these tests it has. been noted, our water here is of the purest nature possible.

Personnel from the Base Beterinarian Office visited us in the month of May for a routine sanitation inspection. Very few discrepancies were found.

On the 26 of June 58, the Commander was affected with an illness peculiar to Iceland which attacks the Central Nervous System. The Commander, Major Thomas B. Place, was sent to Keflavik Air Base for hospitalization. At present the transmission of this disease is yet unknown.