Martin-Marietta’s “Coffin-Launched Guided Missile” (CGM) Mace 76-B had an inertial guidance system, different than its predecessor, the Mace-A, which had a terrain-mapping radar guidance system. The “coffin” was a hardened bay, inclined at 170, and protected by a huge hardened outer door. A site would have three or four sets of bays, each housing four missiles. Each missile rested on a launch platform, ready to be launched off the platform with the boost of a RATO bottle. The launch crews were on alert below the launch bay, behind a heavily shielded door protecting the launch control center. The crews performed regular systems checks, and of course were ready to launch the missiles. Their operational checks were in fact systems integration checks; the maintenance complex, usually miles away, did not have the ability to check the working-together aspects of, for example, the guidance and the flight controls systems.
The initial complements of maintenance personnel were cross-trainees; we all had at least a five level in our old AFSCs. George Bennett and I came from Edwards AFB, CA and were joined by Harry Mathis, who was the NCOIC of the Patrick AFB Radio Shop (my first assignment after Tech School -- Airborne Radio Repair at Scott AFB, Ill) -- and later the Flight Line Radio Shop at Edwards. The cross-training introduced us to inertial guidance fundamentals, gyros, accelerometers, etc. We also received our initial practical training in Ground Support Equipment (GSE), Guidance System Checkout (GSC) and Guidance Equipment Maintenance (GEMS). We completed the course in 16 weeks, after which we were reassigned to Orlando AFB, Fl.
Assigned to the 4504th Missile Training Wing we spent about five months in “combat crew training”, earning our new 3-level AFSC 31130G and simulating three-shift operations. We trained on “A” versions of the guidance system, got some more FTD instructions, and tried to figure out why we were responsible for ground support air-conditioners, and the purpose for the “suitcase”. We discovered that its purpose was to calibrate the air-conditioning system located on the upper shelf in the nose section.
At Orlando we found out where we were going overseas; for
George, Harry and I it was Okinawa! I had volunteered for cross-training to get
back to Germany. (I am from Bremen, Germany and my wife is from Rotterdam,
Holland. We had pushed up our wedding because of the very good chance to get a
European assignment; alas, a 50/50 chance wasn’t good enough!) (I volunteered for the program because of
possibility of being assigned back to Germany, I had been stationed in Germany
in 1954-55. Also my son was born during this training and it was a mad rush to
get my Mother in Law to Florida from MO. so I wouldn’t miss any of the
school. George
Bennett)
Some of the more senior people, e.g., Harry Mathis, had the opportunity to participate in Mace launches from Cape Canaveral. A separate launch pad, block house, etc., had been built at the Cape for the Mace.
Upon graduating from combat crew training, my wife and I drove from Orlando to Connecticut, where my
mother resided, and from there to LA, where my wife’s parents lived. Quite the trip! She and her parents saw me off at Travis AFB early in September 1961, since we could not get concurrent travel. (She was able to join me in December). The flight took 36 hours, via Anchorage, the Aleutians, Tachikawa AB, and finally Kadena AB. It was one of the last non-jet charter flights.
On Kadena we were first quartered in Quonset Huts. But soon we were in a barracks, three stories tall, on the main base, and with every window sporting steel shutters. They were needed too: the first week there we were hit by a 100 MPH typhoon. Besides being ever anxious about typhoon conditions, we were also on the lookout for poisonous Habu snakes, mosquitoes (encephalitis) and careful to only eat in off-base establishments sporting “A” signs. In some off-base housing areas we were also on the lookout for “stealy boys”.
Electricity to the island was supplied from a US power-generating ship, whose generators sometimes went down. See more about that in the Maintenance Site section. We also experienced some droughts in our 30 months there. This caused water rationing so that we were doing the diapers for our oldest daughter who was born there (see more on that below) late in the evening when the electricity was turned on for a limited time.
A major off-base housing development was Kadena Circle,
which was home to many of us assigned to the base, sporting fairly modern homes
built with concrete blocks. It was about a 15-minute drive to work; an
interesting aspect was that the road paralleled the base runway, from which
F-100s and later F-4 Phantom IIs would launch. Often we would see B-47s from
Guam, which had been temporarily repositioned because of typhoons.
(When ever a Typhoon was approaching
the island the loud speakers on base would blare “Typhoon Condition Two” over
and over. So the first words my son spoke were not dada, but “Typhoon Condition
Two”. George Bennett)
The 498th Missile Maintenance Site was located near the north gate of the base. Outside the gate was a Special Forces camp, from which Green Berets commuted/hitch-hiked to Kadena Circle, where they had a training complex. So commuting to/from the base, I would sometimes give a Green Beret a lift, learning early on about how things were going in Vietnam.
The maintenance site comprised several buildings: Supply, a separate Depot Maintenance Facility (DMF), and the Maintenance building, which housed the Chief of Maintenance complex, and various shops: Guidance Equipment Systems (GEMS), Guidance System Checkout (GSC), Flight Controls, Test Equipment, and Engine Buildup.
Many of us have experienced certain planes, systems, components, etc. that turn out to be “hangar queens”. We experienced a rash of black boxes that were returned time after time to the GEMS shop from the GSC area. Finally, Captain Cameron, our Maintenance officer, directed that these boxes be connected to breakout boxes and be fixed once and for all. And they were!
Major Checkout Steps:
· Self-Verification: 100 series steps - (Basic Power-On checks for the console’s check and calibration functions)
· Erection and Alignment: 200 series steps – (Gimbals Erection and Azimuth Alignment, Target settings for Track and Altitude deviations)
· Coarse Memory: 300 series steps – (coarse checks on memory using GSC meter indications)
· “Drift Run”: 400 series steps – Upon satisfying 300 series criteria, the guidance system was put into a 90 minute simulated flight A tape printout was created to check on all critical parameters, especially the “drift” of the system over time. If slightly out of specs, we tried to re-memorize, and run the test again.
· If significantly out of specs, we needed to troubleshoot, replace black boxes, and start all over again.
If we were lucky, a complete calibration and checkout could be accomplished on one shift. Often we ended up cycling through the steps several times, so that it could take several shifts or even days to produce a good nose section. There was competition amongst the shifts to produce a good checkout the first time through. However, sometimes the day shift blamed additional duties, administrative activities, etc., when it took longer, and the night shift was sometimes accused of taking shortcuts, when it’s faster throughput seemed produce poorer drift run results. Fun!
In order for the guidance system to function
properly, its environment had to be maintained within a narrow temperature
range. For that purpose a ground air conditioning unit provided both high and
low temperature air during guidance system checkout. (Upon launch the missile
would use outside ambient air and mix it with engine bleed air to maintain the
required environment). We had to calibrate the air conditioning controls on the
top shelf of the nose section during checkout, something we were unaware of
during our initial training in Denver or Orlando. Fortunately some of us
returned to Orlando as instructors where we incorporated this additional
training into our lesson plans. (I
spent 4 years as Grave Shift Supervisor of the GSC section, George
Bennett)
Late 1961 the 498th worked hard to make the first launch site operational; for us it meant to check out and calibrate many guidance systems. Fortunately the training and hard work paid off. Every and regardless of shop or AFSC contributed. We were proud to participate later in a parade when the Wing received its first Outstanding Unit Award.
As mentioned above, the Island received its electrical power from a US ship anchored off-shore. Sometimes there were power failures, so the Maintenance complex had huge emergency generators for backup. The generators were next to the GSC shop, which made us responsible to start them and bring them on line to protect the GSPs with their critical gyros and accelerometers. We were therefore trained in the proper startup, run, and power switching procedures. Move the switching gear the wrong way and our generator’s output would feed the island instead of inertial guidance components. As I recall, that only happened once; fortunately, repairs were completed before the next power failure occurred.
In October 1962 the Cuban Missile Crisis caused all US
Forces to be on alert. It so happened that on that day our oldest daughter was
born. She arrived at 1235 AM October 23rd Okinawa time – on the other
side of the International Date Line.
I returned from the hospital at approximately 2 AM; barely asleep, I was
awakened by shouts of “Recall” all through he housing area and joined the rush
to the base. My wife didn’t find it out until later in the day.
Hermann Knolle
alzadaslim@attbi.com