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Show August 31. 1973 Page HILL TOP TIMES 9 Esso'infos a small crew of radio men gently turned a knob on a boxlike radio receiving set. The crew was probably plagued not only with the heat of the season, but with the high humidity common to the Eastern seaboard. By Betty Needleman The month of August is usually known as the month that has no big national holidays in it. But to members of the 1881st Communications Squadron at Hill AFB, there are two August events that rate that kind of recognition. The first happened just seven years after the airplane came into being at Kitty Hawk, N.C. It was August 27, 1910, and James A. Macready was circling his flimsy flying machine above the Sheep-shea-d Bay, N.Y. race track. Beside him was a crude gadget with protruding wire connected to a box. Below him After what must have seemed like endless minutes, Macready's voice was heard through the crackling static. For the first time in history, man in flight was able to maintain some measure of contact with earth. Now when a flyer needed landing guidance or was in trouble, he at least could tell someone. But the story of August and the air traffic controller was not yet complete. It remained Rosser earns medal The Airman's Medal was recently presented to Sgt. Peter J. Rosser, by automatic tracking radar repairman with the 1881st AFB commander. (AFCS). On July 22, 1972, just a few Col. Communications James M. Hall, Jr., Hill Sergeant Rosser is an days before his wedding, Sergeant Rosser and his fiancee were on California Highway SR 128 when they came upon the scene of an auto mishap in which a vehicle had left the road and plunged into the Navarro River. With complete disregard for his own personal safety, Sergeant Rosser successfully rescued one of the occupants of the vehicle who could not swim. By his courageous action and humanitarian regard for til v a . I - his V . Squadron fellowman, Sergeant Rosser has reflected great credit upon himself, Colonel Hall stated. Sergeant Rosser and his wife live in Ogden. only half finished for 14 more years. It was not until August 14, 1924,that the electronic circle between aerial craft and earth was completed. Again it was in New York, but this time in and above Central Park, New York City. Maj. William N. Hensley, Dallas, Tex., was to be named, piloted his biplane over the park. Below him, Maj. Lester D. Gardner, signal officer, strained to hear any signal coming from the black box in front of him. Almost to the exact apMajor pointed minute, Gardner heard Major voice calling him and the final link of flyer to earth and then back was about to be forged. Major Gardner picked microphone up the table-to- p Hen-sley- 's Crow makes mercy flight Fla. crew (AFNS) helicopter from the 39th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Wing based at Homestead AFB played a key role in saving the life of a Florida teenager bitten by a deadly snake. Responding to an urgent appeal for assistance, the four-ma- n UH-1Huey flyers delivered antivenom serum for a youth who had been bitten by a poisonous Chinese Cobra at Naples, on Florida's west coast. After a flight from Miami, the stricken youth was administered the serum and received a pint of blood. His condition was reported to be stabilizing shortly after the mercy flight. HOMESTEAD - AFB, A N 50-min- 3500th added have the and screamed an answer back after whom Hensley Field, sets to the anxious pilot. Lo and behold, the flyer base theatre. They are youngsters who worked in a variety of jobs at Hill AFB this summer and will use their paychecks to go to school. radio link in communications was closed. Now, men on the ground who knew the safe and unsafe conditions around them could share their knowledge with flyers above them who wanted that information and needed to know. Just as the Wright Flyer and Jennys have progressed to jets and space rockets, so machines, warehousing, and other fields. They also had the opportunity to take educational elates in conjunction with their jobs. Civilian Personnel officials i i i 0oo5ooOdoo RANDOLPH AFB, Tex. Ogden. Jeff Ricketts, Hooper, (AFNS) - Headquarters U.S. and Marjean Sharp, Clinton. Air Force Recruiting Service In remarks to the young has gained a new group here. men and women, General Poe The new unit, the 3500th noted that 90 per cent of the Recruiting Group, is designed the to allow the recruiting youth desired to work at 90 per and in the base future headquarters staff the insupervisors creased flexibility it needs in a cent of thewanted to have they reported zero draft to provide timely and them as future employees. guidance policy assistance to the recruiters. LI. Col. E.R. Wolfe Colonel assigned LKJ Lt. Col. Edward R. Wolfe has reported to Hill AFB and has been assigned as chief of the Information Division. He was previously assigned to Thailand where he flew RF-4- ooo C aircraft and served as Director, Airborne Bat-tlcstaf- f. While there he flew approximately 300 combat Phantom jets hours in KF-4EC-13- 0 Combat Airborne and Control Center aircraft. A native of New York City, Colonel Wolfe entered the Navy in May 1945 and was discharged in August 1946. He then enrolled in the University of the State of New York in 1947 and was graduated in 1951 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education. C Colonel Wolfe entered the Air Force in October 1952. He second his received lieutenant's commission and pilot's I4-'i- J' ) wings in December 1953. He served in Japan and Korea for a short time during the Korean Var piloting C-and 7 aircraft. The colonel was stationed a I Hill AFB from Feb. 1963 to comMay 1965 as a night 4677th the with mander Defence Systems Evaluation Squadron He also attended the University of Utah studying meteorology at the post graduate level. The colonel is married and he and his wife Hannelore live temporarily on base. 46 C-4- Wt m crystal myriad, said that the program benefits both the youngster and the government. It teaches them fundamentals of skills that might be useful to them in later life, gives them money for higher education and they do work that is needed at Hill Y;,T. officials noted. clerical, landscaping, office i the OITDOiTe A total of 462 young people was employed this summer in a variey of jobs, such as summer aides Seventy-si- x received awards for their excellent job performance. The top five each received a $25 savings bond from Maj. Gen. Bryce Poe II. Ogden Air Materiel Area, commander. The top five were Kent L. Thomas, Perry; JoAnn Wise, Ogden; James E. Rae, South to sophisticated communications equipment of today. And the few hundred feet of controlled space above Central Park have stretched hundreds of thousands of miles to the moon and beyond. August may not rate any national holidays of repute, but the 1881st Communication Squadron controllers might disagree. To them, August is the month that air traffic control was born. heard the answer and the final Sum!inr oicis Some 300 young men and women prepared to check out of Hill AFB following graduation ceremonies at the static-fille- d m !. .''la- - -- .' '. i4 : ' i n it I |