Wordless (nearly) Wednesday - Air Force Transfer - 1963

Wordless (nearly) Wednesday

Air Force Transfer

1963 - 50 Years Ago

Lt. Bill Smith, at work in radar trailer

The Coon Rapids Enterprise
Thursday, October 31, 2013, page 5

50 Years Ago
October 17, 1963

First Lt. William L. Smith has been transferred to St. George, Utah from Winslow, AZ, as part
of Detachment 9, 11th Radar Bomb Scoring Squadron (Saco USAF).

Lt. Smith is second in command of the 80-man unit whose mission is to score electronically simulated bomb runs by Strategic Air Command B-58, B-52 and B-47 bombers. During the coming months, Lt. Smith will be engaged in training twenty-five new men in all phases of the detachment operations.

Lt. and Mrs. Smith and their daughter, Annette, 3, will make their home in St. George, Utah.

Lt. Smith is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Leverne Smith of Coon Rapids. Mrs. Smith is the former Nancy Bolger. Both graduated from the Coon Rapids High School in 1957.

Families are Forever! ;-)

My Hometown - News Clipping from 50 years ago

My Hometown - News Clipping from 50 years ago

From the current issue of the Coon Rapids Enterprise, 50 Years Ago column, dated August 2, 1962"

"Second Lieutenant William L.
Smith, son of Mr. and Mrs. D.
Leverne Smith, of Route 1 Coon
Rapids successfully completed
a course in Introduction to Accounting
II through the United
States Armed Forces Institute,
Madison, Wisconsin on July 18,
1962. Lieutenant Smith graduated
from Coon Rapids High in 1957
and from ISU in Ames in 1961.
Before entering the Service, he
was a computer programmer for
the Space Technology Laboratory,
Incorporated at Los Angeles, CA.
He and his wife, the former Nancy
Bolger, are residing in Winslow,
AZ where he is a Ground Electronics
Officer."

Always interesting to see what appears in the Hometown Newspaper! ;-)

Families are Forever!  ;-)

Wordless (nearly) Wednesday - More Winslow visitors

Wordless (nearly) Wednesday - More Winslow visitors

My Mom and Dad and three youngest brothers visited us in Winslow, Arizona, Spring 1962, I believe. Brothers, from left, Paul, Tom and Barry; Mom and I in back; Nancy holding Annette on right.

Ok, need Dad in the photo! And, like magic, he appears. Must have just come home from Church! ;-)

Families are Forever!  ;-)

Sharing Memories - RBS Express (62-63)

Sharing Memories - RBS Express (62-63)


On the last Those Places Thursday I shared so photos of my three temporary duty assignments (TDY) to the RBS Express in Nevada, Montana and Kansas. It started with the sun rising over the RBS Express parked in Hysham, Nevada.

This photo is especially meaningful because these experiences are the only time in my life, I think, that I ever worked a steady 'night shift' for any length of time. I was on from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., as I recall, for weeks at a time. It is a different work environment - and I am thankful for the experience. When I later studied Service Encounters as my specialty within Services Management in my doctoral program, being able to recall the 'feelings' of being a worker during those hours really helped me to be able to have a least some feel for a retail worker at a 24 hour business, such as a convenience store. Or, a heath care worker in a hospital, for another examples. It really is a 'different world,' I remember going into the dining car, just coming off my working shift, eating breakfast, then, in a hour or so, going to bed for my 'night of sleep' - getting up in the early to mid-afternoon. The rest of the day and into the evening was free time… back to work at 10 p.m.

Somehow, on some of those afternoons, I became acquainted with a local mail carrier and some local ranchers. I do not recall the exact circumstances, but, I enjoyed riding around the mountainous regions near the train. I'm sure this was on the Montana TDY. There are some vivid images in my memory, but no connecting details. Fascinating.

Even MANY years later, just thinking about that 'night shift' work brings back 'physical' responses in my body. The memories did when I was in my doctoral studies, they do now. Strange how that happens. As a reader, do you have memories of working in the middle of the night in any of your work? Similar, or different memories and responses?

I want to include one more story here, unrelated, except in my mind, they go together. Our oldest daughter, Annette, would have been three in Aug of 1963, just before we moved from Winslow to St. George, Utah. The memory (and this is my story, so I'll tell it my way, regardless of the "truth'' aspect of anything I may say) I have is of Annette, 3, up on a picnic bench at a Winslow-based airman party, doing "The Twist." Chubby Checker first hit #1 with "The Twist" with a single in 1960. As the related dance, "The Twist" took hold, his musical version hit number 1 again, in 1962.


The final memory of this 'set' will be that Nancy was pregnant with Allison as we pulled up stakes in Winslow and moved the family, and the 'Air Force Detachment base,' to St. George, Utah, in the fall of 1963… the story for next week.


Families are Forever!  ;-)

Those Places Thursday - RBS Express (62-63)

Those Places Thursday
RBS Express (62-63)


This is a very special Those Places because it occurred 'while' we were living it Winslow, Arizona, and St. George, Utah… It is the U.S. Air Force RBS Express, a train in several locations where I served during my 3 years in the service.

 The sun rising on the RBS Express parked in Hysham, Montana. It is a few miles west of Miles City, Montana. I had a temporary duty (TDY) assignment here, near Elko, Nevada, and in western Kansas.

This was The RBS Express #2 in full set-up - you can see the flag in the center, and the radar units on top, further back along the roof line.

 Here the airmen are operating the MSQ-39 radar monitoring bombing runs by B-47 and B-52 aircraft. Note that discussion at the wikipedia link talked about MSQ-35 equipment. Did you note that there 21 cars, 17 support and 4 radar… the description is very accurate!

Here was our dining car - we operated 3 shifts, so someone eating about all the time!

 The orderly room. I worked at one of the desks, when I was on shift.

This was the Pullman sleeper car where my compartment was. Very tiny. Each of the above photos was from Aug-Sep 62.

 This was the Nevada TDY assignment, the train is approaching Deeth, Nevada; note the nearby mountains… each terrain was carefully chosen, they told us. This was Mar 63. Once we were 'parked' on our siding, the engines would go on to other work, of course.

 This one is from Aug 63 - likely the western Kansas TDY trip - all the officers and noncoms assigned. I am third from the right, beside the taller commanding officer (a pilot).

A very memorable part of my Air Force experience.


Families are Forever!  ;-)

Sharing Memories - Cuban Missile Crisis - October 1962

Sharing Memories - Cuban Missile Crisis - October 1962

Last Sunday, I shared a few memories of the "Bay of Pigs" event of 50 years ago during my first year on active duty in the U. S. Air Force. On Thursday, I shared a photo of my working environment and a little about the mission of our SAC Detachment on the mesa west of Winslow, Arizona.

Today, I want to move forward to October 1962 when we were on the brink of a real potential national and military turning point: "The Cuban Missile Crisis." You can read the story at the link, but today I want to share a few of the specific memories I still carry with me from those couple of weeks:

1) Probably the most common story I tell (have told) about this time period was that for several days (a week or more) there was never a moment, day or night, when there were not military aircraft in the air, moving east and west, flying over our mesa and house in Winslow, Arizona, in preparation for eventualities 'if' the Cuban missile crisis was not settled peacefully.

2) As the third ranking of the three officers in our Detachment, when we went on 24-hour alert, I got the 'graveyard' shift. I also was responsible to carry (wear) 'the sidearm.' Guns and I have never had a positive relationship. I did fine in handgun training in my summer camp experience, but I  was still scared I'd 'shoot my toe off,' wearing that sidearm each night. Fortunately, President Kennedy had learned a lot, by that time, and 'solved' the crisis with a cool head and calm diplomacy that limited the crisis period to a couple of weeks.

3) How did we 'really feel' out there on the mesa? Were Cubans really going to attack us from Mexico or otherwise? Probably not, but, we really didn't know. The uncertainty is actually the tough part, of course.

It wasn't until 1984 when the movie, "Red Dawn," came out that all those feeling REALLY came back. That was exactly our fear. It was very well portrayed. I still rewatch that movie with trepidation - although, knowing it is only fiction, I do like the movie.

Families are Forever!  ;-)

Those Places Thursday - My Air Force Desk - Aug 1962

Those Places Thursday - My Air Force Desk - Aug 1962


Here I am, 2nd Lieutenant William L. Smith, United State Air Force, sitting at my military issue desk in a semi-trailer van, part of the Radar Bomb Scoring Squadron Detachment (SAC), on a mesa, west of Winslow, Arizona, in August 1962. How about that two-toned green color scheme? 

This would have been at the beginning of my second year (of three) on active duty. The first half of the first year was spend in Biloxi, MS, at Ground Electronics School; the second half was spent here at the Detachment. I was the third ranking Officer (of three Officers in the Detachment). The Major and the Captain were both pilots, who took tours of duty flying the B-47 and B-52 bombers flying over that our Detachment was 'scoring' as they made their simulated bomb runs.

[The B-52s started flying in 1952, and these same planes, the very same planes, were used to bomb Baghdad, Iraq, just a few years ago (85 in active service, 9 in reserve).]


Families are Forever!  ;-)

Sharing Memories - Bay of Pigs - April 1961

Sharing Memories - Bay of Pigs - April 1961


This is Part 1 of memories from Air Force service in Winslow, Arizona, where we arrived in January, 1961. I had hardly gotten settled into my new duties in the Radar Bomb Scoring Squadron unit on the mesa west of Winslow when a national crisis arose. Known as the Bay of Pigs, President Kennedy authorized an attempt by Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba, with support and encouragement from the US government, in an attempt to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. It only lasted three days, with the defeat of the invading forces. But we were on high alert, and wondering if the results would lead to Cuba invading the U.S. or some such activity.

Part of the Strategic Air Command (SAC), our mission was to "score" simulated bombing runs in the area by B-47 and B-52 aircraft SAC aircraft. Our unit consisted of semi-trailer vans, perhaps a dozen of them, connected together with radar units on top that tracked the SAC aircraft. We received a radio signal from the plane as they approached their targets (simulating 'enemy' locations) - the signal stopped when the bombs 'would have been released.' The job of our unit was to track the 'bomb' using speed and trajectory, to determine how close it would have come to the target… and transmit that information back to the crew of the SAC aircraft and their command structure. There were a dozen or so (we didn't know, for sure) other units like this, around the country.

We operated with three officers (I was the junior of the three) and a couple dozen enlisted men and airmen. We lived on the civilian economy; our nearest military installation was a small army supply facility west of Flagstaff. The next closest was an Air Force Base in the Phoenix valley.

Good relations with the local community were important. One of the activities I became involved with was the formation of a newly forming Toastmaster Club. I was a charter member. It was a good experience for a young officer as well as for the business folks in the organization.


Families are Forever!  ;-)

Those Places Thursday - Winslow, Arizona

Those Places Thursday - Winslow, Arizona

After leaving Coon Rapids and the snow we drove to Winslow to complete our three year active duty Air Force commitment. When we arrived in Winslow, we were greeted by several days of heavy fog. A memorable experience. Here is a photo of the nice little cement brick two-bedroom we rented (and our dirty car!). It was "in the backyard" of the landlord (to the left, above), a nice young couple with a couple of young kids. We have many pleasant memories of this home, including a number of family groups who visited us there.


Families are Forever!  ;-)