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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 0151.PDF
I FLIGHT, 29 January I960 151 detachment from Wyton. This squadron subsequently went toMalta and from what was left of it a new unit, No 156 Sqn, was formed at Alconbury in February 1942. Later that year No 156i moved to Warboys; Alconbury ceased to be a satellite of Wyton land in 1943 became one for Molesworth. That June a newIchapter in its history began, when the 8th USAAF moved in and lAlconbury became an American base for the first time.I Perhaps the part which American aircraft from there played in jthe European bomber offensive is best described in the words ofi USAF officer who summarized it recently by saying that Alcon- bury "was instrumental in the success of the daylight bombingds against the Axis, for stationed there was the 482nd Bomb _roup, the first USAAF Pathfinder unit in Europe. Besidesjfying combat missions, the 482nd operated a school for radar pathfinders at Alconbury. They led the majority of the biggestmost famous raids and played a very important role during lie D-Day operations."Alconbury, then, has largely an American history; for after it I been on a post-war care and maintenance for some nine years, SM/Sgt Charles W. Foster, NCO I/C Job Control (left), and the senior controller. T/Sgt Carl Walker, at the board showing the maintenance state of aircraft in the Job Control Unit the USAF took it over at the beginning of 1954 and a buildingprogramme was started. Units there prior to the 10th TR Wing's arrival from Germany have already been mentioned. Now theyhave gone, Alconbury has re-assumed its American accent with a new dimension of activity.The Wing's object is officially described as to "gather visual, photographic, weather and electronic reconnaissance informationand present it in usable form to the air, ground and sea forces of the NATO alliances." Under peacetime circumstances the Wingcomes under USAFE (US Air Forces in Europe) headquarters, but in war would be controlled by NATO. Three of the Wing'ssquadrons—those at Alconbury (the 1st and 30th) and the one at Bruntingthorpe (the 19th)—are primarily responsible for visualand day and night photographic reconnaissance; while the 42nd Sqn, at Chelveston, is responsible for weather and electronic (i.e.,radar) reconnaissance. Under Capt Bussjaeger's guidance, I visited those parts ofAlconbury which make the Wing tick: operations; maintenance and control centre; Whiskey Alert; and the photographic section.What is known as the Reconnaissance Operations Centre has double doors which are opened automatically, and in betweenwhich there is a security check. In appearance, the centre is much like any operations room: wall-boards (some of themcurtained off) giving information on flights, exercises, aircraft, This sectioned picture of an RB-66 shows at (a), (b) and (d) the pilot's, navigator's and gunner's positions; (c) naviga- tional radar; (e) cameras; (f) photoflash bombs; (g) scanner for gun radar; (h) 20mm guns; and (i) JATO bottits. The engines are Allison J71-A-13s weather; a long control desk in front of these boards, with theusual battery of telephones; and at the back of the room, a secluded glass-surrounded area raised above floor level and con-taining easy chairs and a table with telephones. One of the duty officers, Maj P. V. Howell, explained to me how the centre"co-ordinates and controls tactical flying operations." These are of several kinds: photographic and visual reconnaissance, at highand low level; in-flight refuelling (by KB-50s); weather flights; and training sorties. Additionally the centre compiles operationaldata for higher command use. So that it can carry out these tasks, the centre must have up-to-the-minute information on the crewsand aircraft of the four squadrons it controls; and this is displayed on the boards, aircraft being matched against crews. In addition to its reconnaissance role and the probing of radardefences, the 10th Wing flies weather sorties daily to the Mediter- ranean area and deploys its aircraft for training to Moron, theCJSAF base in Spain some 15 miles south-east of Seville. Aircraft on meteorological flights (from the 42nd Sqn, at Chelveston) forma regularly rotating pattern, going to Wheelus AFB, near Tripoli in Libya, thence to Moron and back to Chelveston: aircraft andcrew night-stop at Wheelus and Moron, so each day there are three RB-66s airborne on this meteorological triangle. WhatMaj Howell referred to as "productive training" is carried out by the Wing at Moron. "We put 18 aircraft down there altogetherwithin a week," he said. From Moron, the crews do approximately 15 hours' flying on training or operational missions, aided bythe generally good weather prevailing there. All sorties by the Wing, whether operational or training, are controlled from theAlconbury operations centre, which the major described as "the focal point for alerting the entire Wing." At briefing priorto an exercise, oflScers with responsibility for all relevant sides of activity—maintenance, navigation, meteorology, intelligence, etc—gather to provide relevant information. But air traffic control is done by Wyton. Mention has already been made of the close associationbetween Wyton and Alconbury, and because they are so near physically a joint control of aircraft going in and out of theso-called "Huntingdon complex" is essential for safety. The description by Maj Howell of this unified ATC amplified onewhich had been given to me earlier by Wg Cdr R. E. Dyson, RAF liaison officer at Alconbury, who made the interesting commentthat "it just happens that Wyton is doing a similar kind of work to Alconbury—though the Americans didn't know that before theycame here." He added: "It helps, in the complex, to have aircraft which operate at the same speeds." Wyton and Akonbury aircraft carry common crystals and eachstation is allotted a "block" time for departures and arrivals: "You don't interject a Wyton aircraft into an Alconbury blocktime," said Wg Cdr Dyson. There are tele-talk lines between the airfields' control-towers and operations centres are connected bytie-lines. Controlling is done by Wyton, and if an aircraft wishes to take off from Alconbury, it is not allowed to go until theWyton complex is clear: thereafter it is under Wyton control until the end of its block time, and on its return until it comes underground approach control. In this routine, as Maj Howell des- cribed it, "Every aircraft must come back and meet a specifiedbeacon time—given by Wyton—within five minutes. If an air- craft is late, it has to call Wyton for a new beacon time." If the Reconnaissance Operations centre is the heart ofoperations from Alconbury, Bruntingthorpe and Chelveston, the nerve-centre is the Maintenance Control Centre presided overby Maj E. H. Gordon. Its innermost sanctum has the same look as an operations room—wall-board packed with names and num-bers, centre desk stacked with telephones; and in a small room at the back there is another miniature operations room, withairfield plans on the wall, from where the movements of vehicles
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