| I joined the Air Force in August 1951, completed my basic training at Sampson AFB, NY. I completed my Radio Operator School at Keesler AFB, Mississippi and was scheduled to go to Korea as a forward air controller. However, something happened to cause the AF to send me to Hickam AFB, Hawaii in 1952. Like Bernie Wynn wrote "Now it seems like the dark ages, we communicated via High Frequency radios using Morse code." |  On the tarmac in front of one of the 57th's hangars at Hickam (circa1953) Left to right: Capt. Wogsland A/C, Capt. Davis Pilot, Lt. Daniels Nav, Lt. Hall Nav, Capt. Weather, MSGT Ramsey Flight Eng, A/2C Ford, 1st Radio, A/2C Jackson 2nd Radio, TSGT Reed Dropsonde, SSGT Harmon Crew Chief. Click on the image for larger view. |
The missions were flown in special air mission B-29’s. The missions were called Petre missions and were long and cold. The B-29’s had bladder tanks in the bomb bay to provide the fuel that we needed to fly up towards then Russian territory. The cabin heaters were also located in the bomb bay and had a tendency to emit sparks. Quite obviously an undesirable combination -- gas and sparks. Consequently the on/off switches for the heaters were safety wired to the off position. At 18500 it gets cold. I mean bone chillin cold. One of the perks of being the radio operator was that you could kind of curl up around the dynamotor that provided the power to the radios. They got kind of warm and comfy. One of the mission conditions was that we had to maintain radio contact in order to periodically report our position. No satellite phones back then.
In the event we lost radio contact with a ground station the aircraft commander was required to abort the mission and head for Hickam. I submitted position reports via the Hickam facility (call sign AGA2), and any other AF facility I could contact. I submitted some reports through the civilian facility at Honolulu’s International Airport facility. Much to the dismay of my OIC Lt. Denfield I occasionally jumped into the HAM bands and had my report relayed through them to the MARS facility at Hickam. I had QSL cards (ham contact reports) made up with a B-29 on it and sent them to every HAM that helped me out. Never-the-less to say, they were really excited about getting a contact report from a HAM in a B-29 somewhere in the South Pacific.
I got to know a couple of the WAFs that were radio operators at the Hickam facility. That was fun stuff. A gallon of mello red wine was like 25 cents, you could rent one of the cabins at the rest camps for a couple of bucks, we invented rock-and-roll, the drive ins were great gathering places and Hale Maki (I believe that’s the right spelling) offered cheap room rates and free showers for all enlisted personnel.
On one of our trips to the South Seas for some above ground testing a couple of fighters were lost at sea along our route and never found. The South Sea triangle I guess. Eniwetok, Kwaj, all of them were simple atolls just big enough it seemed for an air strip. We were housed in tents at the end of the runway and were sent off to dream world by everything from C-54s to B-36s. Food was great though. For showers we bathed in sea water from the lagoon I believe. God did it stink. I could not find a bottle of after shave or deodorant any where on the Island. Lessons learned, I never went back without an adequate supply of anti-stink.
The most eerie and surprising thing to me about Ivy, Castle and other tours down south was the actual detonation itself. I never got use to the total blackness whether I was on a flight or on the runway. The sky and the surroundings went from pitch black to full sun instantaneously. Not a sound other that the surf, a dog, or a tern. Then you felt it. The heat, the blast waves and the mushroom. I remember ships of war being stood on end. Bows lifted straight up. We flew over the island where the tower holding the device was. All that was left was a big black hole in the ocean. I will never forget or get use to the awesome power of those explosions.
As I related in an earlier correspondence with you, we were sitting on the runway waiting in line for our take off during one of the shots. I noticed a white B-24 Liberator rolling down the runway, rotate and turn south. I asked (I believe it was Capt. Comstock, another story) what was that all about? The AC replied "Those are some of the scientists heading south. Story has it they don’t have any idea how big this puppy is going to be." Maybe not an exact quote but you get the gist. They did not know and as a result a bunch of our sailors and observers on the ships received above normal exposure to radiation. It affected many lives then and thereafter. Some of our guys were exposed as well. Not necessarily during that shot but in other shots where we flew penetration missions to measure radiation levels after the shot. I was fortunate to survive that horror.
Unlike Bernie I spent several summers down south. I was still invincible and felt I was destined to live forever. I had an attitude and fine tuned it. Now, many moons later I would have made life a lot easier on me knowing what I know now. I received an "early out" and went on to finish school, and traveled the world as a field engineer for Bendix Radio out of Owings Mills, MD.
I married my childhood sweetheart. We celebrated 40 years of marriage in January of this year (2002). Fathered 9 chilluns along the way (five girls, four boys). Got them through school and out doing good things for the USA. Have six grandchildren and one due in August. Life is good. Still working, Work for the Department of Justice now. Martha is not ready to head south to SC (Lake Marion) to our retirement home yet. So here we are in this huge six bedroom, three full bath, finished basement, 300 square foot year round sun room I added on. Funny thing is we still use every room in the house. All of children are good to go. Had to fight tooth and nail to keep them on the straight and narrow but now have a really great relationship with all of them. They are all close as well. Not bad for a one time idiot flying penetration missions into the aftermath of a nuclear detonation.
As I said in other correspondence with you, I will always remember those days and the men that made it happen. You can watch them on TV or in the movie house but unless you have been there you just don’t know the whole story. One of my favorite move lines comes from Green Beret when John Wayne asks the David Jansen (the reporter) "Have you ever been to South East Asia?" Same, same. Have you ever seen an actual nuclear detonation?
God bless the men and women who did and those that are still paying for it.
Charlie Ford
Centreville, VA
Email: charles.ford@acs-inc.com
