Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
But I also would go back there under the right circumstances.
I have always said I would love to take my hubby there for an overnighter just so he could see what it was like for me to live there. But I know that 1 night could easily turn into 3 or 5 depending on the weather!
I have always said I would love to take my hubby there for an overnighter just so he could see what it was like for me to live there. But I know that 1 night could easily turn into 3 or 5 depending on the weather!
There was a good story about the AF base at Shemya that you'll appreciate. Seems a Reeves Aleutian Airways pilot requested assistance from the tower at Shemya asking for directions to the terminal building. He was told not to land. The pilot ignored that response and asked again how to find the terminal building. He was told in stern words not to land. When asked a third time the AF controller in the tower became strident in his instructions to overfly Shemya and not land.
The pilot then said something to the effect that he appreciated the opinion of the young controller, but 1) he was the captain of that aircraft, and 2) they were already on the ground but couldn't see where the terminal was located.
Another "incidental story" is that a fellow I worked with decades ago was the son of a regional manager for American Airlines back the 40's and 50's. His father had fired Bob Reeves as a pilot... because he took too many risks! Reeves left American Airlines and formed Reeves Aleutian Airways, where his idea of a reasonable risk was exactly what the routes he flew required.
I can relate to your story, Floyd! I flew Reeves in and out of Adak a few times . When I was there, the only "outgoing" flight continued west to Shemya then back-tracked east to Anchorage, making it a long flight. But I was more grateful for Adak once I saw Shemya, let me tell ya! I just remember there was 1 TV in the main terminal, and half the islands workers were huddled around it on folding chairs........
I can relate to your story, Floyd! I flew Reeves in and out of Adak a few times . When I was there, the only "outgoing" flight continued west to Shemya then back-tracked east to Anchorage, making it a long flight. But I was more grateful for Adak once I saw Shemya, let me tell ya! I just remember there was 1 TV in the main terminal, and half the islands workers were huddled around it on folding chairs........
Heh heh, you'll like another story.
I worked for the White Alice Communications System, which originally was an AF owned contractor operated system that amongst many other places provide telephone services to Adak and Shemya. In 1976 we were transfered to Alascom, and new satellite systems were installed. But along with that transfer and the new equipment, a change came about which dealt with the people. It required far fewer people to operate, and the result was that sites where there had originally been 5 to 10 people, there was only 1. And the likelihood was that that one person would stay in one location, and maybe never transfer ever.
Except when they literally shut sites down as far as manning. I had been very happy at Aniak for a long time, but they unmanned it and I moved to Fairbanks to get good schools for my children. Initially I worked at Eielson AFB for several years, and then they unmanned that too. But while at Eielson, which had a lot of interaction with both Shemya and Attu (Coast Guard), at one point it became obvious to the AF folks that I dealt with at Eielson (who thought I was hard to get along with) that the Alascom technician at Shemya was nearly impossible to work with! And they asked me what the deal was? So I explained it:
He'd been there for about 12 years by that time! What do you expect?
The company eventually forced him to transfer to Anchorage because he was getting to the point where we couldn't deal with him either! But annoying the USAF was certainly not a bad characteristic as far as we were concerned! At one point I had a very good supervisor who asked me, seriously, why I and the tech at Galena always had so many "social problems" with the AF. I told him it was simple, we were the only techs he had that actually worked in the same room with the USAF. He took about two seconds to mull that one over, and said "That's true isn't it!" (And that poor guy at Shemya was on an Island with them!)
Floyd, by any chance did you know a telecom person (lady) named Lydia (Buddy) Clay. I know her from the ham bands, and she is actually still going at age 97.
Floyd, by any chance did you know a telecom person (lady) named Lydia (Buddy) Clay. I know her from the ham bands, and she is actually still going at age 97.
That's Arlene Clay. She's been in Aniak since the late 1940's. Her and her late husband worked for the CAA, before it became the FAA.
I worked for the White Alice Communications System, which originally was an AF owned contractor operated system that amongst many other places provide telephone services to Adak and Shemya. In 1976 we were transfered to Alascom, and new satellite systems were installed. But along with that transfer and the new equipment, a change came about which dealt with the people. It required far fewer people to operate, and the result was that sites where there had originally been 5 to 10 people, there was only 1. And the likelihood was that that one person would stay in one location, and maybe never transfer ever.
Except when they literally shut sites down as far as manning. I had been very happy at Aniak for a long time, but they unmanned it and I moved to Fairbanks to get good schools for my children. Initially I worked at Eielson AFB for several years, and then they unmanned that too. But while at Eielson, which had a lot of interaction with both Shemya and Attu (Coast Guard), at one point it became obvious to the AF folks that I dealt with at Eielson (who thought I was hard to get along with) that the Alascom technician at Shemya was nearly impossible to work with! And they asked me what the deal was? So I explained it:
He'd been there for about 12 years by that time! What do you expect?
The company eventually forced him to transfer to Anchorage because he was getting to the point where we couldn't deal with him either! But annoying the USAF was certainly not a bad characteristic as far as we were concerned! At one point I had a very good supervisor who asked me, seriously, why I and the tech at Galena always had so many "social problems" with the AF. I told him it was simple, we were the only techs he had that actually worked in the same room with the USAF. He took about two seconds to mull that one over, and said "That's true isn't it!" (And that poor guy at Shemya was on an Island with them!)
Floyd, can you refresh my memory as to what those big, white golf-ball looking objects were? There used to be one you could see in Fairbanks on the drive up the Richardson Hwy...were they early satellites? I used to know but....it's been a while and I was just a kid.
Floyd, can you refresh my memory as to what those big, white golf-ball looking objects were? There used to be one you could see in Fairbanks on the drive up the Richardson Hwy...were they early satellites? I used to know but....it's been a while and I was just a kid.
I'm not sure, but that sounds maybe like the old Nike missile sites? Nothing else would have had a "golf-ball" look.
There was one very close to the road on the Moose Creek Bluffs. And a bunch of stuff was on top of the 33 mile bluffs across the highway from the Boondox Bar. Almost all remains of those were gone by about 1980.
I've talked with guys who were in the Army National Guard and worked on some of those sites. I've also read stories about how the fighter pilots lauching intercepts from Eielson were vastly less concerned about conflict with any Russian Mig they might catch over American air space than they were about being shot down by one of those Nike missiles when returning to home! :-) Neither ever happened though.
I'm not sure, but that sounds maybe like the old Nike missile sites? Nothing else would have had a "golf-ball" look.
There was one very close to the road on the Moose Creek Bluffs. And a bunch of stuff was on top of the 33 mile bluffs across the highway from the Boondox Bar. Almost all remains of those were gone by about 1980.
I've talked with guys who were in the Army National Guard and worked on some of those sites. I've also read stories about how the fighter pilots lauching intercepts from Eielson were vastly less concerned about conflict with any Russian Mig they might catch over American air space than they were about being shot down by one of those Nike missiles when returning to home! :-) Neither ever happened though.
Yes, thanks, that is correct, they were radar domes. Interesting...Wikipedia has a picture of a dilapidated one from Eielson.
Back in my younger days, when I was playing city league basketball in Fairbanks, we went up to the Murphy Dome site a couple of times to scrimmage the air force personnel that worked/lived up there. Pretty nice place; in adddition to a gym they had their own bowling alley (with 2-4 lanes I recollect, although it's been a lot of years).
Check out Murphy Dome 1956-1957 (we went up quite a bit later than that, around 1980 or so as I remember) and especially Murphy Dome for some photos, including one of their golf ball dome. Some of the other subpages; e.g., CPS6B, also have some sweet pics of old electronics, etc.
During random web surfing I've found other websites like this that have been set up by folks that used to work at sites, most now abandoned, across Alaska. Every time I do I think how cool it would be to have a central website/directory to all of these. They capture a part of Alaska that is largely getting lost to history. Not as well known or preserved as the gold rush/pioneer days but very interesting in their own right.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
. When I was there, the only "outgoing" flight continued west to Shemya then back-tracked east to Anchorage, making it a long flight. But I was more grateful for Adak once I saw Shemya, let me tell ya! I just remember there was 1 TV in the main terminal, and half the islands workers were huddled around it on folding chairs........
