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Airway Pioneer Member |
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JT, James, Jim, Red, JT (again) Turner. Those are the names, in order, that I grew up with. I was born in Clyde, "by God" Texas in the early "30's". Other Texas homes were in Houston and the Dallas, Ft. Worth area. When I was eight years of age, the Turner family migrated west to California via Arizona, with a carnival called "The Ferris Greater Show". After the carnival folded we settled in Perris, California where I graduated from high school at age sixteen. I joined the Air Force when I was seventeen and became an air traffic controller. Oddly enough, I had never even seen a control tower before this. Assignments included: Parks, Keesler, K-16 and K-14 in Korea, March and Fairchild AFB's. In 1956, two weeks after discharge from the Air Force, I was hired by the CAA and assigned to ZLA. That was before Osage was paved. Became a plank holder at El Toro RATCC in 1960. On to LAX Tower/TRACON as a supervisor in 1967. Ops Branch in the Western Region, 1972. Deputy Chief, LAS Tower/TRACON, 1974. Chief VNY Tower, 1977. Back to LAX TRACON in 1981. My official title was Asst. Facility Manager but, like everyone else, I worked in the control room most of the time. In 1984, I was selected Manager Edwards RAPCON, and served there until retiring in Feb. 1986. Since retiring, I have consulted on a Movie, the AAS program for Hughes Air Craft Co., the STARS program for RATHEON and other neat things. I now reside in Boulder City, NV with Gerry, my wife of 46 years. We have four children and eight grand children, all of which are not a burden to society. I do a bunch of sailing and play a bunch of golf. Otherwise I feel perfectly comfortable doing nothing. | |
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