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Clyde L. Mings
9/17/2005 3:36:25 PM | To Win Bryson-hope I am not boring the board with drivel, but will further expand on a 613th static chasers life that may parallel Sgt. Dorris's life before he died over Politz. In my description of the radio setups, I did not list the Radio Compass-the ARN-7 ADF.This received homing beacons and broadcast stations that could be tuned in and the loop antenna( housed in the football shaped enclosure) would turn and drive the compass dial needle to the bearing of the station.Wonder why our navigator always had Stockholm Radio tuned in with the quivering needle pointing to Stockholm when we got into trouble in North Germany??? Our hand mikes were the T-17 and the T-30 throat mikes-(a dog collar with carbon buttons on each side of your Adam's apple)Our huts were one long room with a single little "monkey stove"-- a cylindrical device from Hell that was allocated one bucket of coal/coke per hut per day and you burned a few lumps at a time.Our instructions were that in an incendiary bomb attack to put them in the stove-nothing could stay lit in there! Our bunk had the British diabolical mattress-three seperate pads stuffed with horsehair(?) that slid apart and your butt was on the bedframe all too often.The stove caused fumes and smoke to be a real pain.Our waist gunner, John, came in one night more than somewhat "under the alcofluence of inkahol" ad said ": 'S lil' stuffy in here!' and dug his .45 out of his bag and fired several shots thru the roof "for ventilation".Next day he was up on the roof patching the holes as a private.Some deal was worked out for him to fly his missions as a sergeant in case of POW, not that it really carried much weight with the Germans either way.I located him 54 years later on a Google search and we have regular phone and mail contacts again.Love that wacky guy! On mess hall food-the cooks did their best with what they had. Our Flight Surgeon did make them stop serving those damn Brussel sprouts so often-at 25,000feet gas expands about 5 times and discomfort intestinal pain on the ground can double you up at altitude! Between misions we had to have periodic code practice sessions and a LT. Winchester was the mother hen for radio operators and kept us proficient. A fine young officer who had been there and done that and could teach others. Will try to answer any radiomann related questions, within my limits, that Forum viewers may post.
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Win Bryson
9/17/2005 7:16:29 PM | C.L.:
Wow! And as they say: "...I'll get back to you..."
It'll probably take me a week to read all this, but thanks - and for making it available to everyone alse, too.
Win
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Fred Corley
9/17/2005 9:39:21 PM | I am just curious. How long was your radio school, what teaching methods did they use, and how many words per minute did you have to copy to graduate?
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Clyde L.Mings
9/17/2005 10:29:05 PM | To Fred Corley:
The radio school at Scott Field was about 6 months long. We not only had to learn code and theory but also repairs and wiring aircraft installations, so we were radio operator/mechanics. We had to learn to copy code on a "mill" (typewriter). the poor guys who hadnt taken typing in school had a double hurdle to conquer!We spent endless hours copying press wireless from the major news services and in the hot 1941 summer time in Illinois with no airconditioning in the classes it was a real drag! I believe the standard was 20 wpm but some sneaked by with 16, which is about what most flight traffic was if copying with a pencil.We also had some rudimentary classes in weather since a large portion of a flight operators duties was copying weather reports for the pilots.I flew in B-29's for 4 years later on and we had to pass 20 wpm each month to qualify to be on a crew.I had a Commercial Radiotelegraph license from the FCC and had to pass 25, but I just cant write faster than that.Still work CW as a ham, but am not a "hot Dog" speed demon.
Clyde L.Mings CMSGT USAF (ret) radio op on Lt.Kuta's
Madame Queen IN-Q- 613th crew.
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Steve Greenberg
10/4/2005 9:45:54 PM | Clyde,
I enjoyed reading Part III. John Pear (my fahter in law), told me the story about shooting a few holes through the roof with his 45! John is doing fine these days at 88 years old. He is still driiing and always on the go doing something!
Take care,
Steve
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Clyde L. Mings
10/6/2005 8:07:06 PM | Steve-hope John Pear didnt get mad at me for relating his little escapade of shooting holes in the hut roof
to "get a little ventilation!" I recently tried to call Joe Chartier ( our copilot on Madame Queen IN-Q) but found that he had died 30 July 2005- Moral: dont put off calls, we are going "forever aloft" at an alarming rate. I will call John soon. Chartier was also a ham, and I visited him in Ocala, Fl. and we talked on ham radio many times.I have a couple of more stories I will inflict on the Forum soon.Regards-
C.L. Mings
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Steve Greenberg
10/7/2005 9:57:59 PM | Clyde,
John got a laugh out of it! He remembered it quit well! I'll let him know that Joe Chartier passed away.
Thanks,
Steve
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