In an attempt to obtain historical articles based on personal memories I put together 20 or so questions – and ask for answers. When I receive the answers, I normally extract the information and complete an article.
In the case of Spotted Island – well, in my mind – finding someone who served at this location is somewhat similar to "finding a white jelly bean on your front lawn, after a six foot snowfall".
Ken Jones served a one year tour at Spotted Island between April 1958 and April 1959. Rather than extract his responses, I have decided to provide this detail in a question and answer format.
Question 1: - At what USAF location were you serving when you were advised of your transfer to Canada?
Answer 1: - Keesler Air Force Base, Biloxi, Mississippi. This was the USAF technical training base for Radar Maintenance and Radar Operations (Scope dopes - as they were called). I believe there may also been training for other specialties but don’t recall what they were. We had 26 weeks of basic electronics training (theory). We worked in two man teams to construct a super heterodyne radio receiver wherein we learned not only the theory but how to solder, etc. The 26 weeks was followed by 13 weeks of sets. Here we received training on the specific equipment we were to maintain. In this case our class 10077B was trained on Gap Filler equipment. FPS-14 search radar, FST-1 Coordinate data transmitter (found at the gap filler site, which permitted the unmanned operation of a gap-filler. The FST-1 was the equipment through which the control signals and data were transmitted to and from the gap filler), and FSA-10 (equipment located at a prime site) used to integrate the input from the gap filler with that of the prime site search radar at the proper azimuth and direction. The FSA-10 was an interesting piece of equipment in that it could manage input from up to 6 gap filler systems and used a television camera to display the input from the 3 inch PPI’s of the gap fillers on the large prime site PPI CRT’s.
Question 2: - Did you volunteer for this overseas tour, or were you "volunteered"?
Answer 2: - We were volunteered. We were told when we started "Sets" training that there was only one location where gap filler personnel earned overseas pay - and that was Labrador. Four members of our class received that assignment.
Question 3: - What was your rank at that time?
Answer 3: - Airman 3rd class at the start of tech training and Airman 2nd class (Corporal equivalent) upon completion.
Question 4: - What was your AFSC at that time (Communications Officer, Engineer ?)
Answer 4: - Aircraft Control and Warning Radar Repair 30332F. The next to the last digit indicates the skill level. Dewey and I got our 30352 "5 level" on 21 August 1958 after On-the-Job training and testing by the Tech. Rep.
Question 5: - How did you travel from the USA to Canada and onwards to your final destination?
Answer 5: - Military Air Transport C-118 (DC-6B civilian equivalent) from McGuire AFB, New Jersey to Goose AFB, Labrador (Flight 423 on 26 March 1958 - I still have my boarding pass) then a day or so later by H-21B helicopter to Cartwright. Dewey and I worked at Cartwright until 17 April 58 at which time we hopped on another H-21B to Spotted Island. I still remember our arrival at Spotted Island. We were met at the chopper pad by the Commander who preceded Captain Wheeless. Captain Robeless sticks in the cobwebs of my brain. I can’t remember his name for sure. Dewey and I, and one box of cargo got off the chopper. It was noon time and as we went in to the mess hall and took off our parkas, flight pants, and mukluks I noted the relative eerie silence. No one was talking. Mostly the sounds were the scraping of forks on stainless steel trays. Everyone was lost in his own thoughts. (Our chopper had no mail on board and the box contained two dozen mop heads.) We were just as silent during the next twelve months when a chopper arrived without mail.
Question 6: - Were you transferred directly to the Gap Filler site at Spotted Island, or were you initially transferred to Cartwright, only to be subsequently selected by Cartwright to proceed to Spotted Island?
Answer 6: - The latter I believe. We (Dewey, Joseph D. (Joe) Gagliardi, Clarence L. (Larry) Pearsall and I had been specifically trained on gap filler gear. I’m certain the manning document for Cartwright likely called for gap filler trained personnel. Dewey and I were assigned to Spotted Island, Detachment #2. My orders show Gagliardi assigned to Cut Throat Island, Detachment #1, and Pearsall to Fox Harbor, Detachment #3.
Question 7: - Can you please describe the situation on Spotted Island (i.e. approximate size of the Island)? Was the Gap Filler site the only sign of inhabitants or was there a small village nearby?
Answer 7: - Using rough measurements from an old map I have, the Island is approximately 5 miles (Southeast Point to Black Cove point which is the northernmost point of the Island) by 3 miles across the widest part of the southern part of the Island below Farmers Cove. There was no vegetation on the island, only lichen and moss on some of the rocks. I don’t know geology but I seem to remember scattered veins of what appeared to be Iron on the surface of the "rock" which I think was granite. In the same wanderings over the rock we found hundreds of feet of what appeared to be (door bell) wire perhaps used with explosives to level the area where the site was constructed. We used the wire to construct a loop antenna to receive AM signals from the States on our radios. The site got all its water from a fresh water lake. It was pumped via an above ground pipeline which was heated by a mutual inductance type cable to prevent freezing. The cable failed once and we located the break under about 6 feet of snow using a resistance bridge. Perhaps 20-30 Native American civilians had a tar paper and wood village on the West side of Spotted Island Harbor. The elder of the village was named Jim. That’s all I remember.
Question 8: - How many USAF personnel served at the Gap Filler station at Spotted Island as per the Unit Manning Document?
Answer 8: - The military complement was approximately 15 men. Cook, Medic, Motor Pool, and the Commander (each 1) = 4, Radar Maintenance 2, Communications 2, Radar Operators 4 or 5, supply 1 or 2. Can’t think of any others.
Question 9: - How many civilians served at the Gap Filler site? If applicable, what type of work did the civilians complete?
Answer 9: - Electrician (for the site utilities such as light, heat, motor controls etc.); steam fitter (plumber) for site heat which was a circulated hot water system; Diesel Operation (4 or 5) generated both utility and technical power; a Technical Representative for Communications (RCA tropospheric scatter installed while we were there); Radar (Bendix when we got there changed to Canadian Marconi later), Diesel (also Canadian Marconi). Our electrician was from Quebec and had a French accent therefore he was naturally called "Frenchy". Our Radar Tech. Rep., Carl Brenton was from England. Cyril Noseworthy, one of the Diesel operators, had been a Merchant Seaman on convoy duty during WWII and had survived being torpedoed three times. I believe the RCA Tech. Rep. was Bob Anderson.
Question 10: - I have done my share of time at isolated or remote radar sites and can relate to the way of life when there are 125 or more personnel – but how on earth did you folks survive or pass the time at this location? For starters, I gather that there were only about a dozen or so USAF personnel, and the Commander was the only officer on the site. I am smiling at the moment thinking it must have been easy for a Commander's Call - but surely, having to share a 24 hour day with the same dozen or so people must have been somewhat delicate in those days. It isn't as if you were close to a thriving metropolis with a gazillion places to visit or things to do at the local shopping mall.
Answer 10: - I read everything I could get my hands on. Goose Air Base Office of Information sent a box of paperback books about once every other month. Some played cards, pool (billiards), others table tennis on the same table with a plywood top and net installed, and there were movies. (Ha!) The same folks that sent the paperbacks sent 16 millimeter movies. As I recall there were 6 movies per mail pouch which we received 8 times in 12 months. Movies would be with us for 6-8 weeks go out for 6-8 weeks and come back again. I watched the movies Carousel and Oklahoma something like 20 times each and I think it had a permanent effect on me. The female star of both movies was Shirley Jones. I married a girl named Shirley who is of course now "Shirley Jones". (Not the movie star). At any rate, after much repetition we each would memorize the dialogue turn off the sound and run the movie again. We thought it was hilarious. Anything to break the monotony. We became so observant that when watching a grade B "shoot-em-up" western we could spot a rubber tire track, a power line, a vapor trail in the sky and made a game out of announcing that to the entire audience first. We were supplied via the 22nd Helicopter Squadron out of Goose AFB who were not allowed to fly if the wind was over 25-30 knots. It seemed to us that the wind rarely fell below that. The one message none of us ever wanted to hear from Operations was, "The chopper turned back!." We heard it many times. We craved mail. It caused more excitement than payday. On payday the chopper pilot or co-pilot usually acted as the Air Force paymaster. Some fellows fished for Cod. One of the civilians had a shotgun and went duck hunting. I’m sure all of us day-dreamed about home, girls, our cars, our friends, and our families. We talked to each other a lot. I think we learned the best and worst about the other guys there and they about us. There were also quick-draw contests with Zippo cigarette lighters.
Question 11: - I understand that the parent AC&W Squadron at Cartwright had a radar display of what you folks carried on your AN/FPS-14 search radar. With this in mind, what need would there have been for the radar operator AFSC? I can understand a need for radar and communications technicians, but why the need for radar operators?
Answer 11: - It was a matter of timing. During the time Dewey and I were on Spotted Island there was no equipment to show our display at Cartwright. We had one 16" PPI display an OA-175 I think. The remote equipment came just after we departed the Island. The USAF believed they needed trained operators to call forward accurate information regarding the "targets we might track".
Question 12 - Was the gap filler considered as 24 hour manning with someone at the scopes at all times, or was it more or less a daytime operation complex?
Answer 12: - Scopes were manned around the clock. I believe the men worked 4 hr shifts but I don’t remember for certain.
Question 13: - What recreational facilities were available on the unit?
Answer 13: - There were none. The mess hall functioned as the dayroom, the recreational hall, the card room, the NCO club, the Airman’s club, the Officer’s club, and the movie theatre. The room had several tables for four with chairs, windows, a pool table which doubled as the table tennis or ping pong table. A portable movie screen and that was it.
Question 14: - What did you do in your off duty hours?
Answer 14: - See 10 above.
Question 15: - Did you ever get out of Spotted Island on R&R during your tour there or did you remain on location for the entire duration of your tour?
Answer 15: - R & R was not part of the vocabulary there. Airmen could leave the Island only for medical reasons or death in the family type emergencies. I left the Island one time for two weeks. I had three impacted and infected molars and the ¼ grain codeine with APC’s (aspirin with caffeine) our medic had been giving me no longer masked the pain. I wasn’t sleeping and my face was swollen badly. I had about 24 hours notice that I was going to Goose. I took orders and cash from the AF guys for military clothing and shoes to be purchased at "Clothing Sales", and special things from the Base Exchange for both military and civilians. It should be remembered that in the USAF after your initial issue of clothing, you had to buy your own replacements. Our fatigue uniforms had worn out by then from the repeated washings, ironing, and starching during basic training and technical school. It was not unusual to see a GI with a fatigue shirt and blue jeans for trousers. I don’t remember how much cash I had but it was a large amount then. I left the Island on a chopper on 17 August 1958. I reported to the dental clinic immediately and within an hour I had a mouth full of cotton and was missing three molars. The clinic changed the packing every hour for the rest of the day then twice a day for 3 days. Liquids and soft foods and so on. After 4 days I reported to the Base Exchange central Administrative office for duty. I still remember the office manager was a Captain USAF and was a pretty woman of about 30. I don’t remember her name. All I know is that I was tongue tied when talking to her the first day. Other civilian ladies worked there and I was the only GI for that week and a few days. I returned to Spotted Island about 10 days after I left with two huge boxes of clothing and other goods. One of the highlights of the 10 days was to be able to have fresh vegetables and reconstituted milk from the mechanical cow on base. (A machine that mixed powdered milk with water so thoroughly that it seemed like the real thing. At Spotted Island we could never mix it well enough and it was always lumpy.)
Question 16: - Can you provide detail on the radar equipment or the type of traffic that you would be handling? (i.e. - number of tracks (on average) per day - number of unknowns etc.).
Answer 16: - The AN/FPS-14 (Army/Navy Fixed Position Search –14) was a short range pulse radar which used a magnetron to generate the signal in the S band (2700-2900 MHz). It was a fully redundant system with two transmitters and two receivers. The waveguide to each channel (A and B) was connected through a rotary waveguide switch. When a fault occurred on one channel it would power down, turn high voltage on the spare channel, rotate the wave guide switch simultaneously connecting the good channel and disconnecting the faulty channel. (The fault circuitry was more complex than the transmitter.) Maximum Range was on the order of 100 miles but most effective in MTI (Moving Target Indication) mode. The very unique receiver used a mercury delay line to cancel fixed targets and paint only moving targets. MTI range was 48 miles. The system was quite reliable. Since I was not an operator I did not log tracks. I would guess no more than 10 a day. Passing bush planes, a P-2V coast patrol aircraft every day, the occasional chopper.
Question 17: - What was the weather like in this location?
Answer 17: - I recall temperatures ranging from –45F to +55F. Pea soup fog in the springtime wherein you couldn’t see your feet at high noon with the sun trying to shine through the fog. High, high winds (90+ knots for several hours) during one blizzard which caused a bit of excitement about our Radome inflation which normally was managed by current from an anemometer activating pressure switches which in turn controlled the inflation blowers. The cable from the anemometer had rubbed in two on the rocks because of heavy ice load. We fixed it the next morning but sat by those switches all night while the steel tower rocked a bit. I also recall that if a chopper was slated to stay overnight it was tied down to a 6x6 truck on one side while the D-8 bulldozer was on the other. I also recall having jumped on board with the mail during on a particularly gusty day. The pilot was rotating the rotors with slight pitch to remain stationary. I was getting the co-pilots signature on the mail manifest before jumping back out when all of a sudden one rotor blade warped down through the roof skin of the fuselage and before the engines could be stopped or the clutch disengaged all three blades on both rotors were stubs. Pieces of the rear rotor hit the front rotor causing damage. The plexiglass windscreen in front of the pilot was in pieces and he had some minor cuts on his hands from pieces. Luckily there were no other injuries but the chopper was on our site for three weeks before it could be repaired. The crew flew out with the next passing chopper and new one came in when the repair crew were finished.
Question 18: - Comments on the food?
Answer 18: - Food? All GI’s complain about food but by and large ours was O.K. The mess sergeants may have lacked creativity except for one that I remember. Ivory Golden (Goldey) who came to the island on Temporary Duty for a short time. He could make shoe sole taste like Dover sole. He traded sugar to the villagers for some caribou roast one time and on another occasion traded sugar for salmon. Wonderful food. The sugar was used by the villagers to brew a bean beer. I never tasted it but some of the fellows tolerated it.
Question 19: - Comments on drinking? Was alcohol considered a problem?
Answer 19: - I don’t recall it being an apparent problem for anyone other than perhaps Captain Wheeless. He had his private stock delivered by the chopper crews. Enlisted men were only supposed to have 3.2 beer. Red CAP ale, Ballantine, Bud and Schlitz are the brands I remember. I didn’t drink there but I was in charge of our site Base exchange (little store) and the beer inventory was my responsibility. I recall that the steel cans (before aluminum was used for canning beer) rusted and the beer had become very lively. Possibly from the cases being shaken. I also recall having to destroy 30 cases of beer while a base exchange officer from Goose Bay witnessed the destruction. The beer had been declared unsafe. How do you destroy beer on a rock? Set the cases in a row and drive over them with one track of a D-8 bulldozer.
Question 20: - Comments on entertainment? USO shows - if any? Movies - if any?
Answer 20: - See # 10 above.
Question 21: - Comments on mail delivery - in and out?
Answer 21: - I recall receiving mail 8 times in 12 months. We sent mail out with every chopper that stopped at the Island for fuel, or to RON (Rest over night) as some of the air-sea rescue choppers did. We sent film to Kodak in Rochester for development and most of mine were never returned. The mailing packaging came with the film as we purchased it. When I rotated back to the ZI (zone of the interior) I heard that a mail room attendant at Goose had been stealing pictures that came back from Kodak and he was under arrest. The problem is there were thousands of pictures and no way to identify which ones belonged to whom.