St. Anthony, NF

William R Hughes
2^nd Lt. USAF
Historical Officer

Guydell Ward
Captain, USAF
Commander

The first quarter of 1955 was a big turning point for the squadron. Most of the members of the unit passed the half-way mark of their tours, and the uncertainty and confusion which characterized the latter part of 1954 began to give way to stability and confidence as the squadron matured. Replacements continued to trickle in to ease the personnel situation, which nevertheless remained critical, the biggest problem being the lack of a first sergeant.

Isolation, the roof of many of the squadron’s problems, reached a climax during the month of January. Point-to-point electrical communications remained undependable during the early part of the quarter, and mail channels were slower than ever. No military aircraft landed during the first three weeks of the quarter, although there was one paratroop during that period. This meant that all outgoing mail was held up. This situation changed when ice on nearby ponds became thick enough to support the landing C-47’s.

On 6 March the first Pole Vault circuits became available to the squadron for full-time use. Point-to-point communications were vastly improved.

On 17 February, a party of inspectors from the 64^th Air Division, visited the squadron to make a general inspection. The party was headed by Lt. Colonel Lester C Weaver. In general, they found conditions good, though there were numerous small details that needed correction.

The commander was absent from 25 February until 10 March at a conference of the 64^th Air Division squadron commanders at Pepperrell Air Force Base. Captain Guydell Ward assumed command during Major Logan’s absence.

The squadron had its share of excitement during the quarter. In mid-January, a civilian plane, loaded with some military official and unofficial mail and three military passengers in addition to its regular civilian cargo, fell through a weak spot in the ice of St. Anthony Harbor. Fortunately, the wings kept the plane from becoming completely submerged and no one was hurt. However, the mail had become a soggy mess, and much of the private mail was lost beyond saving. The official mail was in better shape, and most of it was saved. It was delicately skinned apart, wet sheet from wet sheet from wet sheet, and laid out on the orderly room floor, every inch of which was covered with correspondence, to dry. In the midst of this, word was received that two helicopters were coming in with the paymaster on board. Since much of the drying mail represented "suspense" matter and had to be got out as soon as possible, further haste became imperative. The wettest pieces were put on the radiators to dry. These of course wrinkled and turned yellow, but they were saved and got out on time.

Further excitement was afforded by the weather. On 14 March a wind-storm of more-than-ordinary violence began. The wind blew in gusts up to 124 miles per hour at the main site, and the radar had to be shut down for 26 hours. The damage was considerable. The two biggest items were the loss of the 300 foot LF tower and the damaging of an H-21 helicopter, which was blown over on its side.

The squadron closed out the quarter by helping the town of St. Anthony celebrate Sports Day on 30 March. A holiday was declared for the squadron, and shift schedules were adjusted to give every man a chance to attend the event, which lasted from early morning until after midnight. Air Force personnel helped in the planning and running of the holiday, which featured sports events on the ice of St. Anthony Harbor in the morning and a bazaar, sideshows, and an auction at the Grenfell School in the afternoon and early evening. Over $2,400 were raised for the Grenfell School.

The old problems of roof leaks and power failures continued to return and haunt the squadron throughout the quarter. Above freezing temperatures in late March accentuated the leak problem.

Operational capability increased greatly during the quarter. The experience levels of Operations, Radar and Communications personnel improved and the operations settled down to routine.

The greatest improvement in operations came with the use of two Pole Vault circuits, one to N-27 (Cartwright, Labrador) and the other to N-25 (Gander, NF), the circuits, though on a test basis, were operational more than ninety percent of the time since 6 March, when they were first made available.

Late in February the section was visited by Lt. Howard Fenton, Assistant Communications Officer at the ADCC, and two sergeants, including the Operations Supervisor. Many communications and operations difficulties were verbally ironed out, but making them work in actual practice proved to be difficult because of continuing poor communications contact with the ADCC. However, coordination between the ADCC and this unit was definitely improved as a result of the visit.

The upper right hand dais was partitioned off to provide an improved location for the simulator and backup air-ground communications equipment. Maintenance and operation of this equipment had previously been difficult because of poor lighting. Full lighting is available in the enclosure.

Capability of crews increased greatly during the reporting period and was more than satisfactory at the end of the quarter. However, business was too slow for any substantial improvement in the controllers intercept capability. Six actual intercepts were run during the quarter with six successful. All of these took place in February.

Lt. William F Smith, who left in late December for a cross-training visit to the 640^th AC&W Squadron (Stephenville, NF), did not return until early in February. His actual time with that unit was only one week, the rest of that time being lost through poor transportation.

The physical layout of the operations room was improved with new plotting and combination height-tote boards. The lack of a suitable map reference board for the director was remedied with the construction of a back-lighted map board, which was mounted on the left side of the control scope. This permitted easy reading of the map without moving from the scope.

The Electronics Section experienced a fairly smooth three months, although there were a few rough spots and a number of scares. One of these occurred one day early in January, when the pressure indicator in Tower One recorded a pressure drop to zero, and the Electronics Officer found himself a bit shook. Fortunately the "emergency" turned out to be a malfunction of the recorder, which was easily repaired.

In mid January the section took on the project of re-pouring the concrete radome floor of Tower No. 2 which had chipped and powdered badly, making it impossible to keep the equipment clean and free from dust particles stirred up by the pressurizing system. The floor was covered with a cement conditioner called Penetrim and painted light blue with satisfactory results in all ways.

Later in the month new PM cards were received for the AN/FPS-3. At about the same time the section devised its own PM card system for the AN/TPS-502. It was at this time when the section lost the service of Mr. Russell Barnes, Marconi Site Engineer, who was called away on a mission at Saglek. His services were invaluable to the squadron, and the Electronics section hated to see him go.

The section was kept busy during the first half of February with a large number of modifications for the AN/FPS-3.

The month of March brought high winds and several shutdowns, the longest of these lasted for 26 hours. Fortunately, the wind caused no major damage to equipment.

On 10 March A/2C Paul Smith was assigned to the squadron as an AC&W radar repairman after completing his training at Keesler AFB. He replaced A/1C Paul Harris, who returned to the ZI after completing a regular tour plus six months extension.

The supply of spare parts, particularly tubes, remained critical throughout the period, but definite improvement in the functioning of supply channels was noted.

The fact that the problems which faced the Communications Section during the quarter - interference, lack of good frequencies, lack of experienced personnel, lack of spare parts, and lack of coordination with the ADCC - were old and familiar did not lessen their magnitude. However, by the end of March the general situation was greatly improved, and a number of the problems began to be pushed into the background as Pole Vault began to come out in full bloom. The long struggle to squeeze out precious moments of contact time was coming to an end.

Initial contact on Pole Vault was made with N-27 (Cartwright, Labrador) in mid-January, and contact with N-25 (Gander, NF) followed shortly thereafter. Circuits with these sites were turned over to the squadron on a full-time basis. No other circuits were in operation at the end of the quarter, but the others were not far off.

The story of the LF is a sad one. Net 65, which had been activated only a few days before the beginning of the quarter, never really had a chance. Initial tests, it seemed, were successful, but the signal was so strong that it blocked out commercial facilities in St. John’s. Consequently, the net was marked for emergency use only - as a backup for the backup to the backup, so to speak - and the net was never used thereafter. Later, unofficial word was received that all LF operations to St. John’s had been outlawed.

This did not permit the Communications Section to forget about the LF. Early in January falling ice from the 300 foot tower threatened to break the ATV hut to pieces. A protective roof was constructed by the AIO section of the squadron to prevent future damage, and the damage that had been incurred - broken placed in the roof had sheared transmission lines - was quickly repaired. All remained quiet on the LF front from that time until 15 March, when the short life of the LF came to an end. This powerful giant, capable of pushing a ground wave across the island of Newfoundland without half trying, never got a chance to exercise its muscles. No one even heard it fall.

Power failures resulting from line troubles between the RX, TX and the main site continued to disrupt communications. However, their effect was softened in mid-January, when backup power was installed at the RX and TX. A PE-95 was installed at the TX, and a radio teletype operation on backup power was made possible by hooking up the XFK exciter system with a BC-610.

The RX was furnished the "little red devil", a 5-KW, single-phase generator which had once been contractor equipment and had obviously seen better days. By utilizing backup power, MARS facilities, and equipment in the Operations Room, we were able to operate on all required channels and nets during periods of power failure at the RX and TX.

Interference resulted in the loss of the Squadron’s two best HF frequencies. On 21 February Beaver frequency, the mainstay of net 55, was given over to net 51 to replace a frequency which had been causing interference. Beaver frequency had been used 24 hours a day and had a record of better than 85% contact time. Beaver frequency was restored on 18 March, but by that time Pole Vault was in operation and net 55 had been relegated to backup status. For the remainder of the period net 55 remained inactive except for daily operational checks.

Ostrich frequency of net 52, the receiving leg of our main point-to-point net, was also taken away, as transmission by the ADCC interfered with a circuit running from Florida to Nassau in the West Indies. This was more proof that the HF equipment used by this division, using the frequencies assigned, often sprays a signal halfway around the world when it is unable to make contact with a nearby station.

Late in February, two radio maintenance men were released to Pole Vault. They were replaced by S/Sgt. Dale E Kaufman, a 30470, who was assigned here for four months TDY. Sgt. Kaufman took over as NCOIC of the Radio Maintenance Section, and did an excellent job.

February also marked the beginning of the end of MARS operation. On 24 February the all NEAC MARS was closed down. It resumed operation on 9 March. On 22 March all MARS stations in Canada were permanently taken off the air.

A coordination visit by Lt. Howard Fenton, Assistant Communications Officer, and S/Sgt. Quigley, Communications Center NCOIC, from the ADCC resulted in smoother operation and increased contact time on nets 52 and 53, primarily because of a decision to make more frequent use of CW back. In addition, a close personal relationship was established, and this proved to help greatly in ironing out problems which arose after the visit.

The section was greatly strengthened by the arrival of Mr. RNP Evans, Marconi communications representative. From the very beginning, Mr. Evans showed himself to be a hard worker who knew exactly what he was doing, and our equipment began to show the results of his efforts before the end of the quarter.

Although the increased experience level in the Orderly Room and the rest of the squadron increased the efficiency of the section, the Orderly Room was unable to get its head above water for the entire quarter, so overwhelming was the workload.

Tome lost from normal duty because of extra duties, TDY, illness, and other reasons was of crippling proportions. This was true of the entire squadron and particularly the Orderly Room.

Temporary duty resulted in the loss of a large number of man-days spent waiting for transportation. Three of the five airmen assigned to the Orderly Room were evacuated to Goose Air Base Hospital for medical treatment. A total of 109 man-days out of 450 man-days for all five airmen in the Orderly Room were lost. Two of these cases, representing 41 man-days, could have easily been treated in a few days at the Grenfell Hospital in St. Anthony, if this had been authorized. One favorable result of the inspector’s visit was his promise to help in attempting to obtain this authorization. Other TDY requirements for cross-training, schools, conferences, and other events which lasted for short periods of time often resulted in several weeks absence from the squadron.

Within the squadron itself the loss of time from normal duty is staggering. The analysis here for Orderly Room personnel does not include coffee breaks, fire drills, Commander’s Calls, special details, visits to the latrine, day-dreaming, or viewing the hills across the bay through binoculars.

The above figures are not a reflection on anyone’s efficiency. They only show why five men working a full week (minus the imponderable of attitude, which we can only pretend to ignore, and the inner friction of adjustment to interruptions) produce the work that might be expected of only four men over that time. The amount of work accomplished by the Orderly Room during the quarter did not vary in proportion to the time available during normal duty hours. Overtime work was the rule, particularly as it seemed that airplanes had a predilection for weekends when they did come in.

The absence of the first sergeant for most of the quarter caused the Orderly Room and the squadron no small trouble in finding replacements. Three NCO’s were substituted for him during the quarter. None were really sparable from their sections, and none had the training or background to be real replacements. A good first sergeant is as rare as a dinosaur egg and should be almost as old and tough. The first sergeant now assigned on the manning document has been absent from the unit on 102 of the 155 days that have passed since the last first sergeant left on 26 October 1954, and during much of the remaining time the first sergeant was sick and confined to quarters.

In spite of the overwhelming workload in the Orderly Room, much was accomplished in the way of range improvements. Not the least of these was the completion of a squadron records control schedule in March. Lest this be thought trivial, let it be known that this was the first honest attempt to inventory the records of this squadron since its beginning and that the work took four full working days of the adjutant and six full working days of the chief squadron clerk. Anything, no matter how unexciting, that takes that much work is a major labor.

Billeting became a sore problem with the closing of the contractor camp. Contract civilian personnel and visitors had to be billeted here, and many of these were of the class that is supposed to enjoy officer status. With twelve rooms in the BOQ and twelve officers assigned to the squadron, these people had to be quartered with enlisted men. Late in March, as men of the 6631^st Radio Relay Squadron came in, and as mechanics came in to repair the helicopter wrecked in the windstorm of 15 March, space became so tight that rooms of officers and airmen on TDY or leave had to be used and a small overflow of civilian contractor personnel had to be bedded down in the theater.

Relations between the squadron and the local hospital continued to benefit both parties. Four emergency cases were treated at the local hospital, which received some 15 pints of blood from members of the squadron.

Lt. Sheldon Simon, a dentist from Goose Air Base, arrived here early in March and worked very hard during his two weeks here. Another visitor was T/Sgt. William L Copely, a veterinary technician, who inspected the mess hall and sanitary facilities.

In early January the squadron selected a basketball team for the 64^th Air Division (Defense) tournament at Pepperrell Air Force Base. However, poor weather and the resulting lack of transportation kept the team from going.

On 19 February our only projector broke down. This was no surprise, since the projector had been limping along for several months in poor condition, held together by lashup parts, for several months. Nevertheless, it had a definite effect on the morale of the squadron. Makeshift repairs by the Marconi site engineer brought the projector back to half-satisfactory operation after three days and held it together for a month or two longer. Lt. Colonel Weaver, the inspector, who was here when the breakdown occurred, promised to do what he could to get us a new projector, and a new one - or rather a different second-hand one - was shipped in March. It was para-dropped, and as might be expected, the impact of the drop did not improve the projector’s condition. Luckily, it was of the same type as the old projector, and a fairly workable unit was assembled from the two. What was left was sent out for repair.

Poor transportation resulted in the squadron running out of unshown films several times during the quarter.

A Ping-Pong tournament was begun in February. Late in March it ended in the victory of 2^nd Lt. Homer M Simmons, Jr. Over A/1C Harold A Shaffer.

The American Red Cross drive was held from 1 to 15 March. It netted $47.00.

Two airmen were picked to compete in the Air Force Barbershop Quartet and Talent Contest at Goose Air Base on 30 March. They suffered the same fate as the basketball team.

A project to remodel one of the buildings in the contractor’s camp into a recreation hall was initiated by 1^st Lt. Franklin W Schlager. The project, which was half-finished at the close of the quarter, was designed to provide a snack bar with tables and chairs and a small dance floor.

The supply situation, while far from satisfactory at the end of the quarter, showed much improvement by the end of the quarter. Binning and inventory in the warehouse was completed, and the warehouse was in good shape to receive supplies in the coming shipping season. The publications library was nearly complete, with new catalogs arriving on nearly every air shipment.

February and March brought about some valuable additions in personnel. S/Sgt. Bobby Phillips, a warehousing specialist from the 6606^th Air Base Group at Goose Air Base arrived here for 45 days TDY, and proved to be a great help in getting the warehousing in order. Two airmen - A/1C and an A/2C - arrived in March. As anything above an airman basic in the supply section is classed as a field grade, these were particularly welcome additions.

Requisitions for parts used by the Communications, Radar Maintenance, and Installations sections were more successful than in any previous quarter, but the situation could hardly be called "good". The greatest bulk of these items were not obtainable through normal USAF channels and were not listed in USAF stock catalogs. The class 16PT catalog, which was used for most communications and radar spares, was woefully incomplete. Replacement parts for the heating plant, refrigeration plant, plumbing and other installations were particularly hard to get.

A typical case was the attempt to get a hi-lo modulator for the heating plant. No USAF stock number was available for requisitioning, so the manufacturer’s part number was used. To make sure that supply personnel at Goose Air Base would be able to identify the item, the supply officer sent the defective part along with the requisition. The requisition was back-ordered to the depot at Rome, New York, and no further information was received at this station until a report of logistical difficulty was submitted late in February. Then, it was learned that the requisition had been canceled because of inability to identify the part at the depot. No attempt had ever been made to notify this unit of the cancellation until the report of logistical difficulty was sent. Meanwhile, one of two boilers in the heating plant remained inoperative for lack of this vital part and there was for four months, no hope of improvement in the situation at quarter’s end. If the other boiler had broken down, we would have gone without heat in mid winter. Requisitions from the Communications and Radar sections suffered similar fates.

TDY and leaves cut down the effective manning of the section during the quarter. Part of the time the section operated with only four of the eight cooks assigned.

The supply of fresh milk, eggs, coffee and other staples dwindled as the quarter progressed. Powdered eggs had to be served on 26 of the 28 days in February, as the supply of fresh eggs had run out. When the inspector arrived he noted this situation and promptly sent out a message requesting better support, which was answered with the promise that the hens would soon start laying. The situation showed some improvement thereafter.

T/Sgt. James E Machen arrived on 19 March to take over as Food Service Supervisor.

The jobs of snow removal, support of aircraft, general cargo and personnel transport and picking up trash and refuse, in addition to maintenance, kept the Motor Pool busy during the quarter. However, as the quarter progressed and the weather became less severe, the workload began to diminish to an almost reasonable level. Snow removal had presented a particularly difficult problem because of high winds which filled the roads with snow immediately after plowing. Vehicle maintenance was almost always behind schedule. Hard weather and inexperienced drivers were not easy on the vehicles. Only two qualified maintenance men were assigned to the section during the entire quarter.

The installations section kept busy in the never-ending job of keeping the site in working order. Leaky roofs, faulty power, lines and difficulty in obtaining spare and replacement parts were the biggest problems faced by the section. The leaks resulted in a necessity for replacing a great part of the vinyl plastic floor covering. The leaks also caused considerable discomfort to personnel in their quarters and anxiety in the Power and Heating Plant and buildings housing radar and communications equipment.

Power failures were routine occurrences until late in February, when a pair of splicers from the Drake-Merritt Company did a good gob of reworking all of the faulty splices in the outside power lines. There has been virtually no trouble with the lines since their departure. The carpentry shop was kept busy with a number of construction jobs in addition to its regular job of preventive maintenance. Doors were hung on all nineteen outside storm entrances. The entrances had been erected without doors, and this did not provide very good protection against wind and blowing snow. New shelves were built for the PX, a new roof was built for the LF ATU hut, and a number of other construction projects were completed during the quarter.

No history of this unit would be complete without mentioning fire. Fire prevention was pushed strongly throughout the quarter. Nearly every member of the squadron was a Building Fire Warden, an Area Fire Marshall, or a Fire Team member, and training was heavily stressed. The time, effort, and administrative pressure applied to the program paid off in greatly improved fire consciousness and knowledge of fire prevention and fire fighting methods among squadron personnel.