History of the
924th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron
1 July 1956 to 30 September 1956
Prepared By:
Thomas B Marson, Jr.,
2nd Lt., USAF, Historical Officer, and
Lowell L Trent
A/2C, USAF, Historian
Operations
Air Surveillance
Lt. Prowell, 1641 came back from Pepperrell 9 July, where he completed the Fire Marshal course. T/Sgt. Bigelow, training NCOIC, rotated and his duties were taken over by S/Sgt. Barker. Captain CF Howard 3044, arrived here on 10 July and assumed duties as Operations Officer.
On the 20th of July this base participated in operation Curve Ball, a nation wide air defense exercise. On this same date 6 men from squadron left for Pepperrell with the softball team making it necessary to operate on a two crew, twelve hour, shift basis.
Normal air activities were experienced in July.
On 22-28 July the buoy render "Red Bud", ice breaker "Edisto", and tanker "Peconic" arrived. "Dirty Dan" NEAC surface vessel AFFG arrived with the overhaul team on the 28th and departed the following day, conducting a training mission for 50 minutes on the way out.
One man was lost and none gained by rotation in August leaving a total strength of 32 military personnel in operations section. Due to men on leave and working in other sections it remained impossible to have four crews.
Another problem encountered in August was a difficulty in determining exactly how to conduct Quality Control. This was due to difference in verbal instructions from Division and the Direction Center.
Adverse weather conditions on 21 and 22 August caused a pronounced effect on radar target detection. It was thought that one of the radomes would be lost due to high winds at this time.
During September a three crew system was maintained with five men on each crew. KP and detail caused this section to operate at reduced manning.
Winds caused the HRI to be off for a period of one day.
The Supervisors console was relocated and a wind velocity meter installed in the operations room.
Four men were lost by rotation in September. Most of the personnel in this section are scheduled to rotate before December and no replacements are forecasted. One man was gained after bringing the total strength in this section to 29 military personnel.
Radar Maintenance
During the July through September period the Radar Maintenance section lost one civilian and airman, and gained one civilian and two airmen through the normal rotation process. The personnel strength though low showed marked improvement with the additional airman and improved skill of personnel. The latter is attributed largely to success of OJT program.
The overhaul team accomplished general overhaul and alignment. Some difficulty was encountered in the alignment of azimuth of CPX-7 antenna due to the improvised brackets and mountings used in the installation but this was overcome.
Following the overhaul the number of difficulties increased beyond normal level. The 741C oscilloscope; which has been found to be poor substitute for AN/USN-24; was found to be the most outstanding single handicap. The latter unit has been put on order.
The painting team finished the covering of the rubber radomes.
The non-classified file was improved with new system used and a rearrangement was affected for maintenance shop with results of increased working area and improved access to facilities.
Winds had no effect on normal operation with exceptions as follows: anemometer operation was, for the most part, rendered impracticable; and caulking of rigid radome was limited to internal work.
The OJT program, as forsaid, was very successful with limitations of extra work helping overhaul team and handling resulting greater part breakdowns and working with above mentioned projects.
Communications
Two men were lost and five gained by rotation leaving a total strength of one civilian and 26 military personnel at the end of July.
Equipment outages, as usual, were the greatest hindrance to the mission accomplishment of this section. Several pieces of equipment were returned from the repair depot in a defective condition. Requisitions were made for current technical order on GRC-27, GRT-3 and GPR-27 equipment.
Leaks in the Radio Maintenance shop during the rainy weather made it necessary to move equipment to a different location.
All primary UHF VHF equipment, keying items, antennas etc., were installed in tower #1. The rigid radome will protect these from severe winter icing.
Although the skill level was not as high as desired the personnel situation remained adequate in July.
The balance of this report is not available.