ROUTINE NIGHT AT
THE OFFICE
OVER THE BLACK SEA
by
Marvin "Sparky" Adams
One of
the Operation Locations that the 55th Strat Recon Wing had in operation back in
the sixties, was located at Incirlik Air Base situated right outside of Adana
Turkey. This garden spot with exotic animals, mostly camels, and insects of
various species, including poisonous scorpions, was the home of normally three
to five aircrews, plus supporting Operational, Maintenance and other troops. A
tour for the aircrews was three to four months, whereas the supporting troops
,including myself was programmed for six months. On occasion, to ease the
boredom, these troops would head for Ankara, or even Lebanon. The latter
location provided them the opportunity to purchase gold trinkets for their wives
or girl friends, perhaps both.
And thus it was that I was assigned as the Detachment Commander in the latter
part of 1959 and the early part of 1960 My duties ranged from insuring that the
crews had at their disposal all that was required to fly their assigned
missions, and also to be sure that when not flying, that their personal needs
were met. I acted also as the go between the Wing and the Crews when that was
not the case.
I fast learned that when boredom sets in, that Crew Members truly enjoyed
playing pranks on those around them, including yours truly.
Remember the camels? Well one morning I awoke, and six inches from my face was
this camel face hovering over me. I yelled, he made a rather loud noise, jumped
back and proceeded to wee wee all over the floor. I still can't figure out how
they got that darn camel into my room without waking me. A similar occurrence
took place shortly thereafter in Warren Aylsworth's room, only this time the
camel did more than wee wee. Short sheeting beds was also quite popular. The one
time it happened to me, it scared the wits out of me, as when I finally squared
the sheets away and was ready to jump into bed, there lay a six inch or so
centipede. Dead of course, but not so much to notice that at first glance.
Looking back, I guess harmless fun like that was far better than some of the
more serious problems that could have occurred.
In early February 1960,SAC Headquarters planned a mission unlike any that I had
ever seen flown by the 55th Crews. Most, if not all, of our missions were flown
single ship, at 35,000 feet or so, as we paralleled a given coastline, and, as
far as I can recall other than Operation Home Run, that was the general rule.
Not so for this one. SAC was interested in knowing the capabilities of Russian
radar as it pertained to "painting" low level penetrating aircraft, and this
mission was planned, hopefully, to determine that capability.
To accomplish this tasking, two crews were scheduled to fly, with one of the
aircraft being an RB-47 ERB aircraft, rather than the standard RB 47-H models
which most of the 55th crews flew. This aircraft had electronic collection
equipment deemed far more capable to do the job versus the H Model RB-47. The
crew makeup was also different, as it only required two EWO [Electronic Warfare
Officers] crew members instead of the normal three. The crews selected were
those having Pat Woolbright in what we believe to be in an H model and Don Grant
in the ERB Aircraft as Aircraft Commanders.
Grant's
crew was to take off, heading Northeast, climb to 20,000 feet, heading for the
Southern coast of Russia, and immediately after departing the Turkish land mass,
descend to 300 feet prior to reaching a point twenty miles off the coastline, at
which time they would then turn on a northwest heading, maintain 420 knots
indicated airspeed, flying parallel to the coast, until reaching a point close
to the mouth of the entrance to the Sea of Azov, turn left, following the
Crimean coastline, still at 300 feet, flying to a point right south of Yalta,
then turning south rapidly popping up to 20,000 feet, returning back to Incirlik.
As to
Woolbright's mission we have had difficulty in determining the specifics of the
route he flew, therefore this data is based on comments exchanged between
Woolbright and others after the mission. Attempts were made to locate any of his
crew members or others who might have knowledge of the mission, but this was
unsuccessful. We do know that he flew at 300 to 400 feet altitudes in the
Sevastopol area but as stated we cannot be precise as to where. We are also
aware that at some point he climbed to 22,000 and after popping up that
Soviet radar activity was intense and fighters were scrambled to intercept him.
Fortunately, they were unsuccessful in locating him.
One of
the prerequisites of the mission was that it was to be scheduled ONLY if less
than good weather would be prevalent along the collection portion of the route.
Three hundred feet ceiling with a one mile visibility being the criteria. SAC
Weather Center back at Omaha would call the shot of when to go. The key here was
that NO instructions was provided IF the actual weather conditions did not match
forecasted data.
Another
bit of interest here as it pertains to the ability to know how high one is above
the ground. Back in the early Sixties, the standard way to determine your
correct altitude was with use of the Barometric Altimeter. One manually
set the barometric pressure reading for the location you were in, and
technically the altimeter gave you the correct altitude you were above the
ground. This was to be provided by SAC Hdqrs and set into the Altimeter as the
crews entered the area of interest. Keep this in mind when later reading as it
relates to the actual flight conditions.
As
stated earlier, weather was to be a deciding factor in decision to go or not go,
with inclement weather being required and SAC stated it was a go for the night
of February 6 1960. Both crews were briefed and both aircraft took off on their
assigned missions, however Woolbright had a slight delay from his scheduled take
off time.
As we
approached the descent point off the coast of Turkey, it became apparent that
the SAC weather forecasters had really blown their forecast, as instead of low
hanging clouds and poor visibility, it was clear as a bell. Remember, there was
no guidance as to what we should do in the advent that the weather was not as
forecasted, I therefore decided to press on. Also remember the Barometric
Altimeter setting procedure which was to be the main instrument in telling me
that I was maintaining the required 300 feet altitude? Well, about three
quarters of the way up the route, the Co-Pilot yells out there was a vessel dead
ahead, and it looked as if we were going to hit it. I pulled up, and we went
right over him. I surely do not think that there was a vessel that stuck up 300
feet in the air, meaning of course that we were much much lower than 300 feet.
So much for forecasted data from a Hdqrs located halfway around the world. We
flew the entire low level portion of the route being able to see shore lights,
boats without incident.
We
encountered absolutely no fighter problems, and after the mission, I asked the
EWOs' if we had been "painted" by any Soviet radars and the answer was “no”
while at 300 feet, but once we popped up south of Yalta, our sets really lit up
as they really started painting us. However this was not the case with
Woolbright. After the mission, Woolbright stated he had Russian radars on him
for quite a while, which of course led to fighters being scrambled searching for
him. He then said it was all my fault as I stirred them up and hustled out of
there. This was in the early sixties and the Russians had not achieved the level
of excellence that they now possess in radar detection and fighter intercept.
I flew as a replacement
for Grant on four standard type missions without incident at which time Grant
returned to flying status, and at the end of six months I packed up and returned
to Forbes.
My thanks to Dick Poppert who was the Co-Pilot on this
mission, for his assistance in helping to recall this bit of history that took
place over 48 years ago.