Olin H. Hasty sent email about his duty at Operation Castle.
From: "Olin Hasty" hhasty@adelphia.net
To: pdxavets@aracnet.com
Subject: Operation Castle
Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2004
I want to tell you how much I have enjoyed reading and remembering things that happened over 50 years ago. I have read each and every letter and all the information that I can find on the web about our short term with the Atomic Energy Command, Joint Task Force Seven, SAC Test Detachment Test Aircraft Unit (Provisional).
I have been unable to uncover hardly anything other than an occasional mention of our aircraft and nothing about our job. Unfortunately, I have lost track of the entire crew I flew with and if anyone reading this letter could help me locate any of these people it would be appreciated.
I hope the following information will add, not bore, to the history of Operation Castle. I was assigned permanently to the 28th Strat Recon Wing; 28th A&E Sqdn; Ellsworth AFB, SD from Jan '52 - Dec '54 . I was an APQ24/APS23/APA44 Airborne Radar Technician assigned to the RB36 aircraft in three different squadrons. (The 77th, 717th, and 718th Recon Sqdns). There always seemed to be a shortage of flight technicians so we were never assigned to any particular squadron and flew as needed.
One short story before I get into Operation Castle. I married a Rapid City, SD girl and our first son was due to be born the second week of March, 1953. I had been selected to fly on TDY to the Azores and UK the last part of February '53 and our base commander, General Ellsworth was to be a passenger on our aircraft. I was excited about the trip cause we "recon" boys flew a lot of operational missions but seldom got the opportunity for TDY. I lived in Rapid City, about 15 miles west of the Ellsworth. On the morning of February 22 we were to depart around daylight, I think. Anyway, stations for the RB36 was three hours before takeoff. I had left home and was on the aircraft with preflight complete when the AC called me on the intercom and informed me that he had just been notified that I was to be removed from the flight and that the AP was on the way out for me from base ops. That shocked me.
What had happened after I had left home was that the wife started hemorrhaging and they had rushed her to the base hospital where our son was born 3 weeks premature on February 25th. Today he is 52 and doing great. However, his birth kept me off the aircraft that crashed into the mountains of Newfoundland on its return to the states. There were no survivors. Rapid City AFB became known as Ellsworth AFB shortly afterwards.
In the early summer of 1953 I was selected as in-flight technician, to be attached to the 77th Strat Recon Sqdn, for an indefinite period with further assignment to the SAC Test Detachment, Joint Task Force Seven. Never have figured out how I got picked out of the entire base for this special assignment, but it was an experience never to be forgotten. I was also assigned to a special crew from the 77th. commanded by LC Robert Cummings. I stayed with this crew until the termination of Operation Castle in June of 1954 when we returned to Ellsworth.
In July of '53 we were transported to Kirtland AFB and took delivery of our own RB-36H-55-CF, Serial Number 52-1386. We returned to Ellsworth and flew many practice missions prior to departing for the Marshals on January 2, 1954. Our aircraft was called the "controller aircraft" and as such had multiple responsibilities. I don't know all of our responsibilities since we always operated under a "Need to Know" basis and lived with the restrictions of a Q "Queen" security clearance.
My primary responsibility was to keep the special modified AN/APQ24-ASP systems operating. I think I could describe our function as the fore-runner to the ACT system of today where by aircraft are positive identified by "Transponder" codes and can be positive controlled as to location, etc. To accomplish this they took an additional system, mounted the antenna upside down in the location of the top forward gun turrets and tied some modified AMAX-6's to it. This gave me two systems to maintain. I was fortunate. All equipment worked without an in-flight failure for the entire operation. Our function was to control the F-84 sampler aircraft that would be vectored through the fall out cloud collecting samples. I think these guys were out of the 4926th Test Group at Kirkland AFB.
I wound up with a dual responsibility. A ME/SGT Joe Simmons from the 28th A&E was sent over as NCOIC in charge of our ground shop with the mockups,etc. He was returned on an emergency exit early on and I was asked to take on both ground and flying jobs. No sweat, everything but the pay worked out well.
The other responsibility I am familiar with was that we were the airborne photo ship for all the shots. As you know, the RB36 had a complete photo compartment. Having no assigned duty during the shots while everything was working I spent a lot of time in the photo compartment. All of the airborne shots for Operation Castle, I think were taken from our aircraft. We had a hugh (20" focal length I think) camera taking shots out the port side of the compartment. I spent most of my time standing along side that camera looking out a window.
Bravo Shot on March 1, 1954 was something I'll never forget and hope to God will never again witness. We were positioned some 40 miles out from ground zero at near 50,000 ft. Looking down into that rising cloud with the continuous explosions inside as it rose to well above our altitude was a most beautiful site, but also most sobering. A short while after the explosion we made a pass over ground zero at around 10,000 I think. The atoll was gone and the water was still boiling for several miles diameter. We didn't tarry as the dosimeters were raising hell and the dials were going off scale.
I've learned more about the results of these test from reading the letters and information now open on the web than I ever knew. We were aware of a couple of things. First, it seems that the announcement of our shot resulted in a security breach of a soldier writing home and his family releasing it to the newspapers. I was on the ramp the day they flew in to pick him up. The other thing was that Bravo was a problem. We were shut down with no outgoing or incoming news for a couple of weeks. Then the lid was off when the Jap fishing boat got back to Japan. To tell the truth, we didn't know if we were going to complete those tests or what.
I have a few "official" crew pictures and copies of Certificate of Achievement and Participation if you would like them. I enjoyed looking at all the pictures the civilian construction guys have submitted to your site. I guess it was okay for them to have cameras, not us.
Listed here are the names of my crew that I would love to get in touch with, if they are still with us.
- LT Robert Cummings, AC
- MAN Rex Covey, 1st pilot
- COPT Fredricks, Navigator
- MAJ Gray, Photo Navigator
- MAJ Poteet, 1st Flight Engineer
- CPT Kosiba, Radar Navigator
- 1ST LT Kelliher, 2nd Flight Engineer
- T/SGT Harry Buckley, Radio Operator
- A/1C Gunderson, Photo Operator
- M/SGT Ira Deardorf, Photo Operator
- T/SGT Maxwell, Scanner
- S/SGT Auth, Scanner
- A/1C Lou Faith, Scanner
- ME/SGT Herman Risen, Crew Chief
- SO/SGT Harold Clendenin, Assistant Crew Chief
- S/SGT Harold Schroder, Ground Crew
- A/1C Wuinby, Ground Crew
- A/1C Lyons, Groound Crew
The aircraft we flew was a "II" version "feather weight" modification. This meant that the guns had been removed. As such we were able to operate at a much higher altitude and operate out of shorter fields.
We had either two or three B-36 "effects" aircraft assigned to us out of Carswell AFB. One of these aircraft was the 1086 aircraft that Bill Flint submitted the picture of. I could be mistaken but I think this was the "effect" aircraft that was pretty heavily damaged by blast results. Anything that I might say about this aircraft's experience would be third hand so I'll leave it to one of its crew to bring forth the details of that experience.
In addition to the F-84 sampler aircraft there was one B-47 and several B-29 weather ships on Eniwetok. The strip got pretty crowded at times. I remember standing outside and watching the F-84's and B-47 use JATO to get off the ground. Was interesting to watch the F-84's bomb the officer's club when they jettisoned their bottles. One day one took a direct hit and that ended that ball game.
Also witnessed a helicopter lose its rotor and crash into the ocean adjacent to our living quarters. Don't think there were any survivors to that one.
I read from a Navy guy, off the Estes I think, who committed on the fight between the Air Force and Navy over the NCO club one night that stopped their liberty to Eniwetok. The thing I remember bout that night was when I returned to my bed I found this HUGE sailor sleeping in it. My tent mates suggested I not bother him, so I spent the night on the beach sand. Next morning he was gone.
We were given a three day stop over in Honolulu on the way home in June '54. It was a most enjoyable time. Would like to belated thank the auto dealers there for providing autos for each 4 people and all the free drinks that were provided EVERY where we went. Everyone knew we were there. Imagine an RB-36 and two B-36's coming down Waikiki at 200 feet with all six turning and four burning with props in low pitch early on a Sunday morning.
When we got back to Ellsworth we went straight into post-flight docks. Next day I went down to retrieve my tool box and the aircraft had been moved out over on the back side of the field and a fence had been erected around it. Never did get my tools back. The aircraft was still there in December '54 when I got out and returned to college. I understand it remained "hot" for a long time.
Would like to hear from any of the group. To have been a part of this operation was a privilege and an experience of a lifetime. The nuclear weapons are awesome and I hope to God that they are never used as weapons.
Regards,
Olin H Hasty
Brunswick, GA
Email: hhasty@adelphia.net
Keith Whittle
April 6, 2004
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