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Airway Pioneer Member |
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I was born in Huntington, W. VA and moved at an early age to Springfield, OH where I graduated from high school in 1940. Shortly thereafter I enlisted in the US Navy and graduated from Aviation Machinist Mate school in 1941. I was assigned to a PBY squadron serving as a flight engineer/plane captain involved in the training of combat aircrews and flying Maritime Patrol during U-boat activity in South Atlantic. During 1942, squadron flight crews were being reassigned to the Pacific Fleet (Guadalcanal, etc.). Instead I was selected to attend the Navy Air Traffic Control class that was provided at the old CAA 5th Regional Office in Kansas City. CAA instructors that many of you will remember were SOAP members Ray Chaffee and Carroll White and Gene Spradling. Classes were held midnight to 8 which prepared me for the many mids I was to stand in my career. After graduation I was assigned to NAS Jacksonville Tower as a controller. In 1943 I was promoted and reassigned to NAS Banana River, FL to commission a new Control Tower and serve as controller-in-charge. In 1944, I was promoted to CPO and transferred to NATS Flight Control Center located at NAS John Rodgers (now Honolulu Int'l airport) Honolulu, HI where I was trained and served as a flight dispatcher for the Naval Transport Squadrons Pacific. After VJ Day, I was reassigned with the occupation forces to assist in the establishment of the Tokyo Flight Control Center, Asiatic Wing NATS, located at NAS Kisarazu, Japan. I served as Chief Dispatcher at this location and subsequent moves to NAS Atsugi and AA Field Haneda, Japan until 1946 when I was discharged at the completion of my enlistment. While on terminal leave from the Navy I entered on duty with the CAA in 1946 at the Port Columbus, OH control tower. I was promoted and transferred to Dayton, OH Tower as controller in 1947. I transferred to Lansing, MI in 1949 to commission a new tower and served as senior controller. During the Korean conflict, I was recalled to Navy service in 1950 as an Air Controlman Chief and assigned to NAS Adak, AK to train a staff and commission an area approach control tower/center which was new in Navy parlance. I was discharged from the Navy in 1952 and reentered the CAA at the Cleveland, OH control tower where I served as controller/watch supervisor for 6 years. In 1958 I was selected as a terminal evaluator in Lee Warrens Evaluation Division, CAA/FAA Headquarters where I served 2 1/2 years. In 1960, I was selected as Chief, Evaluation Branch, Air Traffic Division, Pacific Region in Honolulu, HI. In 1964 I received an Agency Flight Training Award and earned a multi-engine, commercial, instrument rating in Honolulu and Oklahoma City. In 1965 I was selected as Chief, San Francisco Tower and also provided collateral duties in the Area Office as Project Officer for the forthcoming Bay Tracon. In 1967, I was selected as Chief Oakland Tower/Bay Tracon and commissioned the Agency's first Tracon in temporary quarters on the Oakland airport. I also commissioned a 2nd control tower on the airport. I think this was the first time one airport had two separate control towers. In 1974, I commissioned the newly constructed ARTSIII Bay Tracon on Oakland Airport. In 1974 I transferred to McClellan Rapcon, Sacramento, CA where I served as Chief Controller until retirement on Oct 28, 1977. In retirement, Ginny and I (married 59 years) remained on the move. We RV'd in Mexico, Canada and around the US track, racking up 110,000 trailer miles while based at Lake Wildwood and Sonora, CA for 22 yrs. In 1999, we decided to return to scenes of our childhood in Springfield, OH where it all began. This marked our 30th and (we think) final move in an interesting, rewarding Navy/FAA career. | |
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