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Show Page HILL TOP TIMES 32 !mberj. CAREER GIRL Land Purchased In 1936, 1939 She Packs Parachutes, Hasro' f Used One In anticipation of construction of the huge Hill Air Force base, land acquisition was made as early as (One of a Series) Mary Lou Miles has made a career out of parachutes without ever using one. She is the only woman employee at Hill AFB who is an expert rigger. In fact she has been an inspector of survival equipment for 15 years. The Parachute Repair Unit is one of the three components under her inspection responsibility in the Textile and Rubber Section of Maintenance. Safety belts and rubber life rafts are other survival items that must be 100 per cent perfect. "The 30 men in the section are serious, dedicated workers," said this Career Girl. "They pack the 'chutes and other equipment exactly as if they were doing it for themselves." Being the contact between the producers and the quality but tact, especially if you specialists requires not only know-hoare the only woman involved, according to Mary Lou. "I have enjoyed the cooperation in this Maintenance area," she said. "But then I have always liked Maintenance since I came to Hill AFB as a rigger in 1949 and was made an inspector a year later. Between 1963 and 1968, though, I was assigned to Supply as an identification and condition verifier; the experience was totally new and interesting because I prowled over every corner of this base checking inventories of equipment. "It was a kind of detective job and I was meeting everybody. I liked it but was happy to get back to the 'chutes because that is really my territory". Mary Lou's life as a government girl began soon after Pearl Harbor in her home town of Portland, Ore. She applied at the U.S. Employment Office for a war job and enrolled in a mechanic learner course to learn parachute rigging. After training at Eugene, Ore., she was sent to work at Payne Field, of Hill Field. Everett, Wash., which was a War World She related: "During II, I was sent on TDY to for both the Far East were outfitted crews where bases air being and Europe. "Those for the European theater carried parachutes with Arctic kits which made the rigger's job a lot more complicated. We worked all hours of the night and it was a tense, exciting 1936. The Ogden Chamber of Commerce and the Weber Club deeded 160 acres of land in Davis County to the government. They held options on 4,265 acres until the could government begin acquisition. In 1939 the government acquired 2,867 acres of land in Davis County for the Ogden Air Depot. The tempo quickened when in July, w 1939 Congress appropriated $8 million for establishment and construction of the Ogden Air Depot. Huge Installation Hill AFB, headquarters for the Ogden Air Materiel Area, is a huge and complex installation. Acreage of the Utah air base totals 7,000 plus nearly a million acres at Wendover Air Force Auxiliary Field and Hill Air Force range on the Great Salt Lake desert. Hill AFB has 1,100 buildings, 100 miles of roads, 40 miles of railroad, 52 warehouses (one measuring 12' acres), 10 aircraft hangars and a 13,500 foot sub-dep- runway. ot time." One day in 1944 Mary Lou saw a poster in a window as she was shopping in Seattle, which invited her to work as a rigger at Elmendorf AFB in Alaska. "I went in and came out signed up to go to Anchorage", she it was like said. "I stayed two years and liked the life fine e I went and panning for riding, fishing pioneer days. OftCr YOUR txcnA dog-sledg- gold". For a complete change of scene, in 1946 Mary Lou transferred to Hickham Field, near Honolulu. By this time she was a jour- -- 6r MAKING "i iniimwimiiimM m , , '.,) c CLEARFIELD r i one-of-a-ki- B-- 5 cm Clearfield Chamber of Commerce We appreciate your friendship and are Proud to be YOUR NEAREST r CIVILIAN ME IGHB0R a . 1 n I - xi - rr-jr- -i s K i J7 s rf, A. j 4 and - t neyman rigger. She stayed in the Islands three years, seeing the sights of Oahu, Hawaii, Molokai, Maui and others, and enjoyed t every day. In 1949 she came to Hill and feels very "settled in" by now Her interests include playing the organ and working as a Pink Lady in two Ogden hospitals. She learned to drive after coming to Utah and journeys to visit relatives "all over the country" on ; her vacations. This Career Girl with the Hill at describes job her work with enthusiasm. "I've had two training periods at Chanute AFB learning new automatic 'chutes. techniques, such as the packing of the Rigging is not a simple operation. It can take up to six hours to pack a parachute. Lines, harness and release items must be closely inspected. There are 28 to 30 panels to be folded, then the shroud line to be stowed. One must make sure that each line will snap into place at the first pull. The 'chute is folded like an accordion and it must take to the air and canopy immediately ", Mary Lou added : "We let 'em down easy." That's the rigger 'i j motto, if you didn't know. from , lmm Mary Lou Miles " & Wishes Best "Congratulations r I it ONLY r'.:. m it I |