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Show tk fe.'fe fi.fi fi News of Ihe .; . :. C A A 1 Airport r r : j and Ihe , ( '-;"""" -r' 8 Weather ' j Bureau Ever since the days when Bert Wynaught trucked loads of gasoline out to the airport for the first scheduled airline in the United States, the Western Air Express, flying between Salt Lake and Los Angeles, the aviation interests in Milford have been a steadily growing part of Valley activities. E. F. Keys, the first Civil Aeronautics Administration radio ra-dio operator, arrived to take over the newly constructed airways air-ways communication station northwest of town in December of 1931. Since that time there have. been over a hundred aircraft air-craft communicators and maintenance main-tenance personnel assigned to duty at the station. The old building is still used to house the radio range and voice equipment. equip-ment. The new communications station sta-tion at the Milford Municipal Airport was built in 1947 and occupied in July of that year. The many functions and services serv-ices of CAA include surface weather reporting, notice to airmen air-men service, meaning the condition condi-tion and location of airports, lighting and radio faciliites at this and other fields. The primary pri-mary function of CAA locally is its flight assistance service. This includes pre-flight briefing of pilots in the station and by radio, in flight service by radio of weather en route to destination, destina-tion, and notices to airmen concerning con-cerning facilities en route and the all - important emergency flight assistance to lost aircraft or aircraft in distress. The Milford station handles approximately 4,000 separate aircraft radio contacts per year, including emergency assistance. The most notable of these in recent months was the lost Air Force C-47 which D. L. Thompson" Thomp-son" brought in to a safe landing on the newly-dedicated airport last year, using the radio range team and the pilot's terrain description. de-scription. The aircraft landed with only 10 gallons of gasoline left in the tanks. Personnel presently assigned to the station include M. I. Walters, chief aircraft communicator; communi-cator; R. R. Petersen, M. E. Kay, M. W. Henkel and W. J. Mas-tros. Mas-tros. R. S. Fogelsanger is the technician in charge of equipment equip-ment maintenance and is assisted as-sisted by E. E. Lucas. The U. S. Weather Bureau I history, at Milford dates back to I 1909, when the Volunteer I Weather Service was established and carried on by volunteer observers ob-servers until the CAA took over that job in 1931. In July of 1948 the Weather Bureau moved the Modena station to Milford and at that time assigned V. W j Kellogg, official in charge; J. L. Kellogg and H. L. Murphy to the duties involved. Local Weather Bureau services in- elude winds aloft observations taken four times daily and . used by pilots in air navigation, and the forecast centers to forecast fore-cast approaching fronts. Forst warning, storm and cold wave warnings are available for the asking by anyone concerned. Using climatological data from all previous records since 1909 the Weather Bureau has worked out a system to determine probable prob-able frost dates, number of rainy days, direction and velocity veloc-ity of wind at certain times of the year, and estimated amount of precijitation. B. S. Hillman, airport manager man-ager for the Milford Municipal Airport, has in the past few years done more than his share to promote and foster aviation development in Milford and surrounding areas. Mr. Hill-man Hill-man made himself and Milford nationally famous last winter by flying Dr.' Herbert B. Fowler, Fowl-er, "Milford's Para-doctor," to Garrison in his ski-equipped plane, dropping food parcels to stranded sheep men, and flying critically- sick persons to hos- pitals from remote areas in Southern Utah. Milford is a natural fuel and food stop for light planes flying between Salt Lake City and Las Vegas. Las Vegas is 200 air miles and Salt Lake City 180. Planes of all types and speeds ranging from high flying unseen jets to the glower private aircraft air-craft pass over Milford going in all directions, numbering from 10 to 50 each day. |
