sign in sign up
<<
Home , East Field (Saipan), Meteorology, Weather reconnaissance

Thor's Legions American Meteorological Society Historical Monograph Series The History of : to 1800, by H. Howard Frisinger (1977/1983)

The Thermal Theory of : A History of Meteorological Thought in the Nineteenth Century, by Gisela Kutzbach (1979)

The History of American (four volumes), by David M. Ludlum Early American Hurricanes - 1492-1870 (1963) Early American Tornadoes - 1586-1870 (1970) Early American I - 1604-1820 (1966) Early American Winters II - 1821-1870 (1967)

The - A Challenge: The Science of Jule Gregory Charney, edited by Richard S. Lindzen, Edward N. Lorenz, and George W Platzman (1990) Thor's Legions: Weather Support to the u.s. Air Force and Army - 1937-1987, by John F. Fuller (1990) Thor's Legions Weather Support to the U.S. Air Force and Army 1937-1987

John F. Fuller

American Meteorological Society 45 Beacon Street Boston, Massachusetts 02108-3693 The views expressed in this book are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense or the United States Government.

© Copyright 1990 by the American Meteorological Society. Permission to use figures, tables, and briefexcerpts from this monograph in scientific and educational works is hereby granted provided the source is acknowledged. All rights reserved. No part ofthis publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, elec• tronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permis• sion ofthe publisher. ISBN 978-0-933876-88-0 ISBN 978-1-935704-14-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-935704-14-0 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1990

Library of Congress catalog card 90-81187

Published by the American Meteorological Society, 45 Beacon Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02108-3693

Richard E. Hallgren, Executive Director Kenneth C. Spengler, Executive Director Emeritus Evelyn Mazur, Assistant Executive Director Arlyn S. Powell, Jr., Publications Manager Jonathan Fe1d, Publications Production Manager

Editorial services for this book were provided by Designworks, Kim Dolphin, Linda Esche, Eileen Furlong, Susan McClung, and Jay Talbot. CONTENTS

Illustrations, Maps, Charts and Thbles ... VB 7 World War II - Pacific...... 179 Alaska-Aleutians...... 179 Foreword ...... Xl Southwest Pacific ...... 182 Leyte and the Philippines ...... 186 Preface ...... X111 and the South-Central Pacific...... 188 1 Army Roots ...... 1 Gilberts, Marshals, Marianas, and Bonins ...... 195 Signal Service, 1870 -1891: Okinawa...... 198 The National Service...... 2 Strategic Bombing ...... 201 ...... 203 2 The Great War ...... 9 AAFPOA Weather Central, Guam...... 205 Hiroshima and Nagasaki ...... 206 3 Between Wars...... 17 An Assessment ...... 209 The Birth Of Air Weather Service ...... 21 1937 - 1940 ...... 26 8 Demobilization and Retrenchment - 1946 -1960...... 213 4 World War II - The Home Front...... 35 Flag Rank and Autonomy ...... 213 Leadership and Organization ...... 36 An Epidemic of Centrals ...... 221 Equipment and Training ...... 49 The Rank and File ...... 226 Women ...... 227 5 World War II - Europe...... 55 Blacks ...... 229 The Ferry Routes ...... 55 and Development ...... 230 North Africa...... 67 Weather Reconnaissance...... 232 Sicily...... 71 Hardware ...... 237 Anzio ...... 73 Missions ...... 242 Arctic Reconnaissance and Ice Islands ...... 244 Cassino: "Operation Ludlum" ...... 75 Nuclear Sampling: Justifying the Fleet...... 246 Strategic Bombing ...... 77 The Berlin Airlift ...... 249 Ploesti ...... 79 Schweinfurt ...... 80 255 Operation Argument: "Big Week" ...... 80 9 The Korean War ...... U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey ...... 83 Organization ...... 259 Overlord: The Normandy Invasion ...... 85 Weather Reconnaissance ...... 264 The Forecast ...... 86 Supporting the Eighth Army...... 266 The Outcome...... 93 The Army Complains...... 267 Twenty-first Weather Squadron In France and Germany...... 100 10 Southeast Asia...... 271 Airborne Invasion of Holland ...... 101 Advisory Years (1961 - 1964) ...... 272 The Ardennes and After ...... 103 Combat Years (1965 -1973) ...... 276 Organization and Leadership ...... 277 6 World War II - China, Burma, India...... 107 The One-Year Tour ...... 284 Burma and India...... 107 The Centers...... 286 Observing Systems...... 287 China...... 115 Weather Reconnaissance ...... 287 The "Red Network" ...... 118

v Weather ...... 290 Appendixes 403 Other Sources...... 291 A. Letter Adjutant General, War Department, to ...... 291 Chief ofthe Air Corps, "Meteorological Service," Air Operations Support () .... 294 January 28, 1937 ...... 403 "In-Country" ...... 294 B. Me~?randum Col. William C. McChord (Chief, "Out-Country" ...... 297 Trammg and Operations Division, Office of Chief The Raid on Son Tay ...... 310 of the Air Corps) to Chief, Personnel Division, Ground Combat Support (USARV) ...... 312 Office of Chief of the Air Corps, ''Allocation of The Tet Offensive, 1968 ...... 315 Meteorological Officers," April 5, 1937 ...... 403 The Weather Support ...... 318 C. War Department newpaper release, ''Army Laos: "The Secret War" ...... 322 Meteorological Service to be Transferred from Withdrawal Years (1973 - 1975) ...... 325 Signal Corps," June 18, 1937 ...... 404 The Fall of Phnom Penh and Saigon ...... 334 D. Meteorological equipment issued by Army Signal The Mayaguez Incident...... 336 Corps, World War II ...... 405 11 After the '1\.ge of Aquarius" ...... 339 E. Letter JesseJones, Secretary of Commerce, to Henry L. Stimson, Secretary of War, September The Leadership...... 339 28, 1944 (subject: weather reconnaissance) .... 406 The People ...... 347 F. Memorandum Henry L. Stimson, Secretary of "Peace Dividends" - Post-Vietnam Budget Cuts. 353 War, to Jesse Jones, Secretary of Commerce, n.d. Transferring Weather Reconnaissance ...... 355 (subject: weather reconnaissance) ...... 407 Tropical Reconnaissance...... 361 Sampling Mission Cutbacks...... 365 G. Letter Gen. William C. Westmoreland, commanding general, U.S. Assistance Loss of the Missions ...... 367 Command, Vietnam, to Air Weather Service A "Purple Suit" Force? ...... 370 "30th Anniversary Message to the Air Weather The Federal Coordinator (OFCM) ...... 370 Service,"June 25,1967 ...... 407 SAES and DDOES (JCSI]-3) ...... 372 A "Defense Meteorological Agency"? ...... 373 H. Letter and six attachments Capt. Dale G. An "Army Weather Service"? ...... 374 LaForrest (Assistant Staff Weather Officer, USAF Operations Center, Hq. USAF) to The Ascendency of Air Force Global Weather Central ...... 375 Brig. Gen. Brent Scowcroft, Military Assistant to the President, White House, "Five Day Notable Achievements...... 379 Weather Forecasts for the President" DMSP Satellites ...... 381 November 29, 1972 ...... : ...... 407 The Contingencies ...... 385 Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 ...... 385 Glossary 409 Yom Kippur War, 1973 ...... 385 Abort at Desert One: Iran, 1980 ...... 387 Index...... 413 Grenada, 1983 ...... 392

12 Conclusion...... 397

vi ILLUSTRATIONS, MAPS, CHARTS, GRAPHS AND TABLES

Cols. Donald N. Yates, William S. Stone, Oscar W Senter, and Marcellus Duffy ...... 131 Illustrations Lt. Col. Robert B. Sykes Crash-landed B-17, Greenland Ice Cap, 1942 Briefing Sixth Air Force pilot, Albrook , ca. 1943 ...... 132 Section I 121 Coastal defense used for weather, Panama Canal Zone, 1943 Col. Albert]. Myer M.Sgt. William S. Barney, Losey Field, Puerto Brig. Gen. William B. Hazen Rico, 1942 1st Lt. Adolphus W Greely and expedition survivors Col. James T. Seaver Army Signal Service soldier transmitting weather Reading , 12th Weather Squadron, observation by heliograph, Pike's Peak, late 1880s Italy, 1944 ...... 133 DH-4B bomber, World War I ...... 122 launch, 12th Weather Squadron, Maj. William R. Blair, 1918 Italy, 1944 American Expeditionary Forces Deciphering weather data, 12th Weather Squadron, release, 1918 Italy, 1944 1st Lt. Randolph P. Williams in balloon gondola, Theodolite tracking, 12th Weather Squadron, Scott Field, ca. 1926 ...... 123 Italy, 1944 Capts. Randolph P. Williams, Albert W Stevens, and Libyan Desert sandstorm, ca. 1942 ...... 134 Orvil A. Anderson, 1935 Majs. Oliver K.Jones and Edward Y.W Dunn, Capt. Don McNeal and staff, Patterson Field, 1937 VIII Fighter Command ('l\jax") command post, Enlisted forecaster class marching, Patterson U.K.,1944 Field, 1938 ...... 124 Gen. Carl A. Spaatza and Col. Harold H. Bassett First observer class, Scott Field, 1939 USSTAF Weather Central officers, France, 1945 135 Weather communications, Fort Sam Houston, 1936 125 AAF Weather Service leadership, 1945 PFC Harold N. Whitfield with theodolite, Fort Sam USSR-U.S. weather code exchange, Ladd Field, Houston, 1936 Alaska, ca. 1943 ...... 136 M.sgt.James M. Strange, Hickam Field, 1940 11th Weather Squadron station, Chuginadak Island, 20th Bomb Squadron personnel, B-6 Keystone Alaska, 1944 bomber, Langley Field, 1935 ...... 126 Mt. Cleveland eruption, 1944 1st Lt. Thomas S. Moorman, II 11th Weather Squadron complement, Buldir Island, Capt. Robert M. Losey and Mrs. ]. Harriman Alaska, 1943 ...... 137 Officer meteorology students, Cal. Tech., 1942 .... 127 Briefing "Hump" pilot, ca. 1943 Military meteorology students, UCLA, 1943 1st Lt. Dale]. Flinders and 10th Weather Squadron Meteorology cadet officers, Grand Rapids, 1943 128 mobile weather unit crew, Burma, 1945 Meteorology cadet students, Grand Rapids, 1943 Lt. Col. Charles R. Dole Aviation meteorology cadets marching, New York Lts. Graham, Zumberg, and Morris, 10th Weather University, 1943 ...... 129 Squadron, Chanyi, China, 1944 ...... 138 Weather-training conference, 1943 7th Weather Squadron station complement, Dr. Carl-GustafRossby, magazine cover, Wheeler Field, 1941 1956 ...... 130 M.Sgt. Donald F. Yatteau, Lehman Anderson, and Dr.Jakob Bjerknes John H. Boyle, Wheeler Field, 1941 Dr. Robert D. Fletcher Sgt. Mullins with sling psychrometer, Liangshan, Dr. Woodrow C. Jacobs China, ca. 1944

vii , Hickam Field, 1940 ...... 139 DMSP Site VI, Tan Son Nhut, RVN ...... 150 Weather observation, Hickam Field, 1940 Col. Lewis]. Neyland Hickam Field enlisted barracks, December 1941 Col. Ralph G. Suggs Sgt. John H. ("Lucky") Boyle, Hickam Field, 1942 Scott Field DeHaviland bomber used for early Lt. Col. John M. ('Jack") Feeley, 1948 ...... 140 morning weather flight...... 151 Lt. Col. Leon M. Rottman Weather reconnaissance TB-17G, McChord Field, 7th Weather Squadron complement, Casady Field, Washington, 1945 Christmas Island, 1942 B-25 "The Purple Shaft" used for weather 7th Weather Squadron complement, Nanumea, 1944 reconnaissance, Panama Canal Zone, ca. 1944 . .. 152 1st Lt. Albert]. Downing with captured Japanese 2d Weather Reconnaissance Squadron B-25s, flag, K wajalein, 1944 ...... 141 Kurmitola, India, 1945 7th Weather Squadron station, East Field, 55th Reconnaissance Squadron (Long Range , 1944 Weather) B-25 nose art: "Weather Witch II," "Well 7th Weather Squadron station, Guam, 1944 Developed," "Solid," "Final Objective" ...... 153 7th Weather Squadron officer observers who flew on Lt. Col. Nicholas H. Chavasse ...... 154 B-29 weather flights, 1945 9th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron (Provisional) 7th Weather Squadron detachment bound for personnel, France, 1944 Okinawa invasion, 1945 ...... 142 9WRS(P) P-51 "Lady Alice," 1944 7th Weather Squadron AAFPOA Weather Central 9WRS(P) P-51 "Miss Manookie," 1944 officers on temporary duty, Hawaii, 1944 56th Weather Reconnaissance Squardron gunner 7th Weather Squadron's VII Bomber Command and WB-29 ...... 155 weather central, Saipan, 1944 56WRS gunner under WB-29 tail turret AAFPOA Weather Central (exterior), Guam, WB-29 with No.3 engine feathered 1945 ...... 143 Brig. Gen. Norman L. Peterson and Lt. Col. Leon M. AAFPOA Weather Central (interior), Guam, 1945 Grisham, 1960 ...... 156 Maj. Edward B. Buxton (left), AAFPOA Weather Air Force Under Secretary James W Plummer and Central, Guam, 1945 Lt. Col. Franklin A. Ross inspecting WC-130E Col. Oscar W Senter and Lt. Col. Theodore R. special equipment operator console, 1975 Gillenwaters, Okinawa, 1945 WC-130 operator, 1977 55th Weather Reconnaissance Squardron WB-50Ds, McClellan AFB ...... 157 Section II ...... 144 WB-47E Col. John J. Jones WC-135B ...... 158 Col. Sidney A. Bird Lt. Col. James F. Church with WC-130 -seeding Col. Hyko Gayikian apparatus Col. Ralph]. Steele Flare racks for cloud seeding on WC-130 ...... 159 20th Weather Squadron radiosonde run, under Close-up ofWC-130 flare racks enemy fire, , 1950 ...... 145 54th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron WC-130E 20 Weather Squadron officers briefing Lt. Gen. with hole in fuselage from flare rack Walton H. Walker, Maj. Gen. Earl E. Partridge, that killed Capt. Charles D. Booker and ROK President Syngman Rhee, Korea, 1950 Removing radioactive sampling filters from B-57, Cpl. E. F. Vermillion with captured enemy soldier, 1957 ...... 160 Korea, 1950 ...... 146 WB-57F with NASA camera pallet 20th Weather Squadron forecasters examine Removing sampling bottle from WB-57F, captured Russian meteorological equipment, 1970 ...... 161 Pyongyang, North Korea, 1950 President Nixon, Secretary of Clifford 1st Lt. Albert Watson.]r...... 147 M. Hardin, and 58th Weather Reconnaissance Lt. Col. Oliver KJones, 1950 Squadron's Maj. Francis X. McCabe with WB-57F Release by Communist Chinese of Col. John K at Indianapolis, 1971 Arnold, 1953 Lt. Cols.Joseph O. Fletcher and William P Benedict, 1952 Section III ...... 162 Texas tower, 1963 ...... 148 30th Weather Squadron complement (the "Soc Weatherman on Texas tower, 1963 Trang Tigers"), Soc Trang, RVN, 1963 A1C Charles T. Nelson training VNAF Maj. Dee G. Sullins and S.Sgt Tony L. McLeoud weatherman, 1963 inspecting AN/GMQ-13 rotating beam Maj. Ray B. Coffman, 1965 , U-Tapao, Thailand, 1974 T.Sgt. Max A. Casias briefing crews at Bien Hoa, Cols. John W Collens and William E. Cummins, RVN, 1965 ...... 149 U-Tapao, 1974 Weather briefing section, base operations, Tan Son Nhut,RVN L.Cpl. Dennis Drury, USMC, posting observation at 30th Weather Squadron station, Da Nang, RVN

viii A1C Peter T Cromwell and Sgt. Angelo Marinosci Brig. Gen. Berry W Rowe, Col. Schultz, and with AN/MMQ-2 mobile meteorological van, Gen. Paul K. Carlton with DMSP -5D Long Giao, RVN, 1968 ...... 163 model, 1976 ...... 174 TSgt. John R. Fix, Phuoc Vinh, RVN, 1968 AWS commander Brig. Gen. Albert]. Kaehn and Capt. Dennis C. Moreno and Sgts. Alton]. Keel C.M.Sgt. George M. Horn, Scott AFB, 1982 and Gary R. Nunns, LZ Baldy, RVN, 1968 Unveiling of plaque memorializing AWS' KIAs, Lt. Col. William Shivar, Capt. Thomas E. Taylor, et MIAs, and weather reconnaissance crewmembers aI., LZ El Paso, RVN, 1968 ...... 164 killed in line of duty, Hq. AWS, Scott AFB, 1982 Individual weather tent and bunker, LZ El Paso, Capt. Nancy E. Holtgard at National Hurricane RVN,1968 Center, 1981 Sgts. Paul]. Dvorak and Leroy P.Jordan, Song Be, M.Sgt. Howard O. Potts and Sgt. Beatrice Johnson, RVN,1968 Santa Ana Army Air Base, 1944 ...... 175 Sgts. Donald R. Toay and Victor Bertoni, LZ Stud, Cpl. Phyllis I. Merrill with weather facsimile RVN,1968 machine, Andrews AFB, ca. 1948 Relaying weather observations, RVN, 1970 ...... 165 Maj. Valoris M. Olson briefing Brig. Gen. David C. S.Sgt. Ibanez-Delgado, Phouc Vinh, RVN, 1970 Jones, Germany, 1966 S.Sgt. Miguelo C. Salas, Cambodia, 1974 1st Lt. Pamela M. Hougland, Capt. Eleanor L. 1st Lt. Heng Touch and S.Sgt. Steven D. Roush, Smith, 1st Lt. Kathy M. Long, and 1st Lt. Karen Cambodia, 1974 ...... " 166 L. McClimon at European Forecast Unit, TSgt. George M. Scott, Det. 75, 3d Weather Germany, 1983 ...... 176 Squadron, Hurlburt Field, 1977 C.M.Sgt. of the Air Force Sam E. Parish and SrA Personnel of Det. 75, 5th Weather Wing: Special Linda M. Bogart, 1985 Forces weather support Capt. Carol. L. Belt, AWS weathernaut, 1985 Maj. Keith R. Grimes with Son Tay raiders, Eglin TSgt. Alice L. Hill AFB, 1970 ...... 167 Cpl. Kenneth D. Johnson with his emblem of 54th S.Sgt. James D. Methvan with abandoned Russian Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron (Medium), AN-2 Colt, Pearls Airport, Grenada, 1983 Weather, 1951 ...... 177 Col. George E. Chapman awarding Bronze Star to M.Sgt. William A. Crawford, CINCSAC's personal Maj. Wilbur G. Hugli, Fort Bragg, 1984 weather aid, 1971 Weather briefing at Hq. USAF Operations Center Col. James O. Ivory during Yom Kippur War, 1973 ...... 168 Brig. Gen. Thomas A. Aldrich and Lt. Col. Walter ]. Capt. Bernard Fleigh briefing crewmember at Lajes Harrison, 1973 Field during Yom Kippur War, 1973 Former AWS commanders (Zimmerman, Merewether, Bassett, Peterson, Senter, and Yates) with MATS commander Lt. Gen. Joe Kelly during AWS 25th anniversary celebration, Scott AFB, Maps 1962 ...... 169 Brig. Gen. Russel K. Pierce and Col. Louis A. Gazzangia, 1966 St. Mihiel, salient, France, 1918 ...... 13 Lt. Col. Gary Atkinson, Lt. Gen. Jay T Robbins, Air Service Units of the First American Brig. Gen. Thomas A. Aldrich, and Col. Morris Army in France, 1918...... 14 Newhouse, Joint Warning Center, Army Air Corps Weather Service weather region Guam, 1973 boundaries, 1937 and 1941 ...... 25 Col. Robert B. Hughes ...... 170 Col. Edwin E. Carmell Army Air Force and ferry routes, 1942 ... 57 Col. Arthur W Anderson Potential German bomber routes to North and Maj. William H. Best South America, 1942 ...... 59 Col. Maxwell W Roman ...... 171 North Africa and Tunisia, 1942-43 ...... 68 Lt. Col. Bernard Pusin AAF weather stations in Aleutians, Alaska, and Mr. William A. Jenner Canada, May, 1943 ...... 180 C.M.Sgt. William M. Gardner Southwest Pacific, 1942 ...... 183 Capt. James R. Blankenship briefing future astronauts, Edwards AFB, 1962 ...... 172 Western Pacific, 1942-45 ...... 187 S.Sgt. Thomas Rice with Univac 1108 computers, AAF Weather Service, POA, stations on Saipan and Air Force Global Weather Central (AFGWC), 1969 Guam, February 1945 ...... 197 Mr. Robert C. ("Mr. ") Miller and AAF Weather Service, POA, stations on Iwo Jima, Maj. Darrell L. Lucas, AFGWC, ca. 1973 ...... 173 March 1945 ...... 198 Col. David L. Donley and Lt. Col. Roger Whiton Berlin airlift corridors, 1948 ...... 249 with data handling system product, Korea, 1950 ...... 256 AFGWC, 1985 Viet Cong infiltration routes, 1963 ...... 292 AWS , Learmouth, Australia, 1980 DASCs and ARVN corps areas, South Vietman .... 296

ix USAF airfields in South Vietman, 1968 ...... 298 AWS aircraft inventory, 1943-1975 ...... 236 Rolling Route Packages, North Vietnam.. 302 AWS synoptic weather reconnaissance tracks, Major air interdiction areas, Southeast Asia ...... 306 October 1959 ...... 245 Significant battle areas, 1968 Tet offensive ...... 316 Organization chart, AWS,June 1, 1948 ...... 252 Laos...... 321 Organization chart, AWS, May 1949 ...... 253 Lima Sites (LS) in Laos, Plaine des Jarres ...... 324 Disposition ofFEAF tactical units, Cambodia ...... 331 November 1, 1950 ...... 258 The Middle East ...... -. . .. 386 Organization chart, AWS, May 30, 1950 ...... 260 Iran, Operation Eagle Claw routes, April 1980 . . . .. 388 Organization chart, AWS, December 31, 1950...... 261 US. operations in Grenada, 1983 ...... 393 Weather information flow, Korea, 1950-51 ...... 263 Number of AWS personnel in Southeast Asia, 1961-76 ...... 280 Organization chart, 30th Weather Squadron, January 1966 ...... 281 Charts and Tables Organization Chart, 1st Weather Group, December 9, 1966 ...... 282 Operation control of air units/ out-country air Charter officers, US. Army Air Corps Weather operations, Southeast Asia ...... 300 Service, 1937 ...... 27 Weather effects on USAF operations, Organization chart, US. Army Air Corps Weather Southeast Asia, 1966 ...... 301 Service, 1939 ...... 30 , primary targets, Organization chart, AAF Weather Service, 1943 ... 43 North Vietnam, January-June 1967 ...... 302 Organization chart, AAF Weather Service, Personnel assigned to AWS, 1937-1987...... 363 July 1, 1945 ...... 47 Air National Guard Weather Flights, Forecast vs. actual weather, Operation Overlord, October 1976 ...... 364 June 2-9, 1944 ...... 94 AWS Army support structure, 1969 ...... 376 Organization charts, AAF,July 1, 1945 and AWS Army support structure, 1975 ...... 377 March 13, 1946 ...... 215

x FOREWORD

n early 1985 my good friend and long-time asso• ted trammg program that eventually turned out some ciate, Brigadier General Ken Spengler (U.S. Air 6,200 weather officers before the war ended, as well as I Force Reserve, retired), then functioning as the some 18,500 enlisted observers and forecasters. Many of executive secretary of the American Meteorological those men went on to distinguished careers after the Society (AMS), asked me to read and comment on the war, in and out of meteorology - to include a Nobel first few chapters of a manuscript the Air Weather Ser• Prize winner, several general officers, university profes• vice historian, Mr. John Fuller, sent him for possible sors, corporation executives, congressmen, and noted publication by the AMS. Ken was enthusiastic about the authors. manuscript, and thought I might be too. Indeed, I These men and women, some of whom were associates enjoyed it immensely. This manuscript, subsequently of mine, and the military customers they served while entitled Thor's Legions, aroused memories of those hectic they were in uniform, are part of the flesh and blood of when I was associated with Air Weather Service - this highly personalized and very readable book. Author recollections which had laid pretty much dormant in my John Fuller pulls no punches as he logs and interprets for mind all these intervening years. us the first fifty years of AWS history in Thor's Legions. After winning my pilot's wings and earning a commis• There are those of us who will not agree with all of the sion in the regular Army (Air Corps) in 1930, my formal conclusions Mr. Fuller draws, nor endorse his evaluations association with the field of meteorology began three of performances by certain individuals, but we must res• years later when the Air Corps assigned me to M.LT. for pect his obligation to do so as a professional historian. graduate training in that discipline. Later, I established He has accomplished a monumental job of research in the first Air Corps weather station at Barksdale Field, putting together an enlightening and compelling combat before becoming the assistant to the first chief of the history that takes us from Pearl Harbor to Puson to Weather Service, Headquarters Army Air Corps, Captain Phnom Penh to Pearls Airport. His totally frank and Robert M. Losey. In January 1940 I became chief of the candid revelations of people and events breath into Weather Service when Bob Losey was transferred to this utterly fascinating account. It's adventure and military attache duty in Finland - tragically, Losey drama. It's provocative. And it's full of lessons. Fuller became the first American military officer killed by hos• rightfully faults us for ignoring our proud Air Weather tile action in World War II when he was hit by shrapnel Service history, thereby neglecting the vital lessons it from a bomb during a German air raid on Dombas, Nor• offers. Thor's Legions affords us the opportunity to way, on April 21, 1940. overcome our myopia. I learned a lot by reading it. Taking over as the second commander of what is Believe me, you will too. today's Air Weather Service, I had my hands full as our country geared for war. With barely a score (less than thirty) qualified meteorological officers in the Air Corps at the time, there was an urgent need to train more. So, Arthur F. Merewether in the of 1940, we got nearly 150 students on Colonel, USAF (Retired) cadet status enrolled in meteorology at five major uni• Former Chief , American Airlines versities: M.LT., UCLA, the University of Chicago, Cal and President, AMS (1954-55) Tech, and N.Y.U. It was the beginning of an unpreceden-

xi PREFACE

hose who read America's mather Hftrriors, which the Tactical Air Command (TAC) to U.S. Army Forces in Charles Bates and I published in 1986, will find the Far East (USAFE) to the Air Defense Command Tmany of the same subjects covered herein-with (ADC); a multi-engine pilot could fly bombers for the one major difference. Consideration for limiting Strategic Air Command (SAC) and then for America's mather Hftrn'ors to a size where publication the Military Airlift Command (MAC); and a repairman costs would keep its price within reach of most readers could fix aircraft in any command. But a meteorologist (our original goal of twenty dollars a copy was aban• (forecaster or observer, officer or enlisted) was under the doned in favor of thirty dollars-and even that price was AWS mother church in each assignment. His or her attainable only after we secured a subsidy of $1,500 for career germinated, broke ground, and blossomed (or the publisher to cover his costs) forced us to condense or died on the vine) in AWS. delete much of what I wrote about Air Weather Service Furthermore, after World War II, AWS was a relatively (AWS). With that much labor already invested, I decided small entity, as most Air Force organizations went, aver• to expend the additional research and writing necessary aging about 11,500 people from 1950 to the mid-1970s, to complete a fifty-year history of AWS in time for its and approximately 4,700 thereafter. So at most everyone golden anniversary celebration in 1987. This work, in the "family" got to know one another through the therefore, contains much more detail about AWS than years; and the "family" was at once protective armor and does Amenca's mather Hftrn'ors. a haven from . It was not uncommon for friends to This is a narrative about combat, if you will, oriented serve two or more tours together through the course of toward the role and performance of AWS people in their careers in AWS. They went to school together; they battle. Put another way, it's an operational, rather than socialized together; they looked after one another; mar• an organizational, history. During the Korean war, AWS ried one another (officer and enlisted); and, by the 1970s, commander Oscar Senter wrote his boss at the Military some of their sons and daughters became second-gener• Air Transport Service, General Larry Kuter, that the ation AWS weather people. In no other Air Force orga• payoff for any military organization was how well it per• nization could the same be said. In no other Air Force formed in combat. How true. So readers or researchers organization did personalities assume such significance, looking for detailed accounts of peacetime developments over the years, with the organization's fortunes, fulfill• in AWS will be disappointed, except in two areas: the ments, and failures. So, to know AWS' people, its leaders politics and personalities connected with the prolonged (and, moreso now, its managers), and what motivates staffing process leading to AWS' birth in 1937, and the them, is to understand the history of weather support to rise and fall of weather reconnaissance in AWS. I pur• the and Army. Therefore, since posefully devoted more attention to those two subjects, its people and their actions are the corpus of AWS his• because, until now, they have received scant attention tory, this is a highly personalized account. outside of the official AWS histories. Aside from those Without exception, the commanders and leaders of topics, I believe the narrative moves smoothly AWS since World War II have come from within the and rapidly. "family," so I have devoted attention to their back• Because of its bearing on AWS affairs, users of this grounds, personalities, and shortcomings. Descriptions volume must keep in mind at all times the uniqueness of herein of AWS commanders from Maj. Gen. Russ Pierce AWS as a "family" within the military. When the Air (1965-1970) through George Chapman (1982-1987) are Force established a formal weather career field for based primarily on close professional (and, in some officers and enlisted in the late 1940s, AWS, of course, cases, personal) associations and observations, plus for• managed it. What it meant was that, if you held a mal interviews and biographical material from the AWS meteorology specialty, and you made the Air Force a histories and archives. Together with Lt. Col. Maurice career, you would spend your entire twenty or more Marynow, I had the privilege of interviewing Lt. Gen. years in AWS. Not so with other job specialties (pilots, (USAF, retired) Oscar Senter in January, 1986, under the administrators, armorers, repairmen, doctors, and so on), George Chapman's Project Heritage reunion of former which normally assured those holding them of assign• AWS commanders at Scott Air Force Base (AFB) in 1985 ments in different commands, with different missions, helped fill out their cameo profiles herein. Profitable also through their careers-i.e., a fighter pilot could go from were formal tape recorded interviews I conducted

xiii through the years with other AWS leaders and digni• manuscript before the AWS and MAC brass stepped in, taries (specifically, Bill Barney, Keith Grimes, Art went the extra mile of reading the manuscript for con• Anderson, Ed Carmell, Bob Fletcher, Bill Jenner, and tent and pointed out several factual errors. Ann Marie Buck Buchanan), and shorter, but no less rewarding, Master, a senior at Michigan State University majoring informal interviews with dozens of other AWS officers in English, and an aspiring author, did a thoroughly and enlisted men. professional job editing the manuscript for me. Finally, This work is sufficiently documented as to sources, but Dr. Ron Taylor of the National Science Foundation, who historians might well chastise me because each and was the American Meteorological Society's editor for every paragraph is not footnoted to reve.al so.urces. It this book, offered several suggestions for making it a was a sin of commission. Unless otherwlse clted, the better product. sources used are the official AWS command or unit his• It is necessary to acknowledge here the following tories for the period being addressed-which, because authors and publishing firms for graciously permitting they were prepared as frequently as monthly, are to? me to use quotes from their copyrighted works in this numerous to get bogged down in footnotes. Therefore, If book: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc., for Alexander the topic addressed in the text is the Fifteenth Weather Solzhenitsyn's August 1914, 1972; the Air Force Historical Squadron in the Pacific in September, 1944, for example, Foundation for Dewitt S.. Copp's A Few Great Captains, the reader can assume that the source of the material 1980; Doubleday (a division of Bantam, Doubleday, Dell presented is the Fifteenth's history for that period. The Publishing Group, Inc.) for Dwight D. Eisenhower's "Comment on Sources" I wrote in America's mather Uftr• Crusade in Europe (1949), William C. Westmoreland's A nors applies to this book as well. Soldier Reports (1976), Clay Blair's Ridgway's Paratroopers: Each former AWS commander was afforded the The Amencan Airborne in Hbrld Uftr II (1985), and Curtis E. opportunity to review the manuscript.. Understa~dably, LeMay and MacKinley Kantor's MiSSIon with LeMay: My some were quite upset with my evaluatIOn of thelr per• Story, 1965; Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc., for Bernard formances, and my intent to publish what they termed B. Fall's Hell in A Mry Small Place: The Siege ofDien Bien Phu "sensitive" and "privileged" and "proprietary" informa• (1966), Henry H. Arnold's Global M£fSton (1949), and Les• tion. Chief among them was Maj. Gen. (USAF, retired) lie P. Groves' Now It Can Be Told- The Story ofthe Manhattan John Collens, whose disenchantment kicked off a move Project, 1962; the Houghton Miffiin Company for Bernt by AWS commander George Chapman and his bosses at Balchen, Corey Ford, and Oliver Lafarge's Uftr Below Zero Headquarters MAC to censure the manu~c~ipt an.d have (1944), Vol. 2 of Martin Blumenson's The Patton Papers me summarily dismissed from federal ClVtl servlce-an (1974), and Vol. IV; The Hinge of Fate (1950), and Vol. V, effort that culminated ten months later with a censured Closing the Ring ( 1951), of Winston S. Churchill's The Sec• manuscript (as a manifestation of bureaucratic stupidity, ond HfJrld Uftr; Victor Boesen (and G. P. Putnam's Sons) they removed so-called "classified" co~era.ge, most of for his Storm: Iroing Knck vs. the Us. mather Bureaucracy, which they had approved two years earher m the. Amer• 1978; Oxford University Press for Samuel E. Morison, ica's mather Uftrnors manuscript!), a letter of repnmand, Henry S. Commager, and William E. Lechtenburg's A and a change in jobs from writing AWS history to writing Concise History of the Amencan Republic, 1977; Simon and MAC history. Fortunately, other former AWS c~mmand­ Schuster for William L. Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the ers were more objective and offered constructlve com• Third Retch: A History of Nazi Germany (1960), Harry C. ments (as well as factual corrections) which I gratefully Butcher's My Three }ears with Eisenhower (1946), and incorporated. Omar N. Bradley and Clay Blair's A Generafs Life: An By way of acknowledgements, lowe a debt to several AutobIography by General ofthe Army Omar N Bradley, 1983; people for the content and character of this book. Chief Presidio Press for Edgar F. Puryear's George S. Brown, among them is Ken Spengler, the extremely cap~ble General, Us. Air Force: Destined for Stars, 1983; and Henry executive director of the American Meteorologlcal Holt and Company, Inc., for Philip Caputo's A Rumor of Society (AMS) who, after reviewing the first few draft Uftr, 1977. I also wish to thank Time magazine for per• chapters, became an advocate and offered encourage• mission to reproduce the cover of its magazine dated ment when I needed it most. Ken passed those chapters December 17, 1956; the National Geographic Society for to Art Merewether who then also became enthusiastic permission to use selected photographs from their about the book and graciously offered insight archive; the McGraw-Hill, Inc., for permission to quote and advice. from selected articles appearing in AviatIon mek & I was the benefactor of considerable documentary and Technology; and the United States Naval Institute for pictorial evidence regarding the Seventh Weather permission to quote from an article published in the Squadron in World War II that Les Gaynor placed at my November 1952 issue of Proceedings. disposal as a distinguished alumni of that outfit. The Lastly, I want to say "thanx" to two of my kids, veteran Dick Miller helped me with coverage of Tenth Judy and Howard, for indulging a father who selfishly Weather Squadron activities in the China-Burma• neglected some parental duties by spending countless Theater during World War II, as did John Hass and Dale hours buried in documents and books on the dining Flinders, insofar as events they were associated with in room , noisily banging away on our portable that theater. Lt. Col. David K. Douglas, a member of the typewriter. AWS security and policy review them that handled this xiv