. . V '
10 B
FRIDAY. MAY It, 19S1
MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD, OREGON
toy Patrol Planes Decrease Unknoun (Factors in IFar East Areas
" By ALBERT AXELBANK
Naha, Okinawa - HOT - An
unidentified object, possibly a
Communist lubmarine, wai
picked up on the radarscope
ol a U.S. Navy patrol plane
i over the Bashi channel, south
" of the Formosa strait.
In a fraction of a second,
the -Information was passed
- over the Intercom to the pilot,
Lt. Commander Charles D.
Gilpin, Rock Springs, Wyo. I
was a passenger aboard the
, Navy plane, a P2V Neptune,
one of a squadron of planes
, specially fitted, for submarine
detection. ';' ' 1
, ' "Target how bearing 29.1
t 29 miles' Radarman Alvin
, ; R. Reefer, of Festus, Mo., said
. '. In ' a dry voice without any
emotion.
The big plane, clogged with
some 1,500 pieces of electronic
equipment, dropped to 500
feet above the choppy dark
blue water. , !
In two and quarter min
utes the"obJect" was sighted
through binoculars by Gerald
' D. Naxwell, Jonosboro, La,
. " who sat in the plane's nose.
' Then Gilpin, 88, a veteran
pilot of two wars and more
than 5,000 flying hours, saw
lt with his naked eye.
It was a cargo ship flying
the Japanese flag.
As our plane passed the ship
broadside some three miles
away, Hugh E. Hanna. 2, of
Richmond, iCalif.. peered
through the sight of a 120mm
' camera and made a motion
picture to be developed later.
Noticeable Tenseness -
The Laos crisis added a no
ticeable tenseness to the
plane's mission, which, in
wartime, would Be to corneal
enemy subs.
Crewmen Frank Schreffler,
21-, Compton, Calif., put Jt this
way:
"The Laos crisis could mean
an extension In the Navy for
me. I'm more aware of the
fact we might get into a hot
war. , Until recently, there's
: been lackadaisical attitude
among us. Now, we are more
'aware our squadron is per
forming a' vital mission','
The squadron is part of the
'Formosa .patrol .force, which
usually includes a destroyer
division, a seaplane tender
and several squadrons of land
and water based patrol air-
craft. ' As a unit, of the U.S.
Seventh Fleet the Squadron's
mission is to detect any evi
dence of Communist aggres
sion against the Republic of
China.
Schreffler agreed with oth
er crewmen that "we are the
only way for the United
States to get knowledge of
ships to and from Red China.
Over a long period, we get
some idea of Communist Chi
nese strength."
Batter Survival Chance
If a "hot" war erupted in
the Formosa strait, U.S. and
allied ships would have a bet
ter chance for survival be
cause of this and other P2V
Neptunes.;
"Our mission," Schreffler
said, "is about as Important
as you can get. Without It we
will have a blind spot. We'd
be giving the U.S. another
unknown factor and we have
too many of these already."
Back at 1,000 feet over the
Formosa strait 198-pound
sailor sat down at the rear of
the plane and began peeling a
garlic pod with a long blade
knife.
This was Hanna, the plro
tographer, who is also known
affectionately to his crew
mates as "our stewardess."
He was preparing a spag
hetti lunch for the 12-man
crew and this correspondent.
The spaghetti was not from a
can. Nor was the piping hot
tomato sauce which was sim
mering on a small stove in
the plane's galley.
I asked Hanna where he
learned to cook.
He didn't have time to an
swer. ;:;..'
The radarman spotted an
unidentified object dead ahead
about 30 miles. Lt. (jg) Ken
neth L. Busch, 25, of Washing
ton, D.C. plotted it on his
navigational chart. Hanna
dropped his knife, laid the
garlic pod aside and pulled the
bulky camera into place in
front of him. His subject: A
freshly - painted oil tanker
churning through the strait.;
Adjustment Eased . . , r
Then he got back to his
cooking - 10 pounds of spag
hetti, apples, tomato juice, and
coffee for this meal, -
Co-pllot Lt, (jg) Roger Hunt,
25, of Los Angeles, eased the
adjustment of his revolver in
its new blond leather shoulder
holster as he sat down to eat.
'Hanna must have some
Italian blood In him,", cracked
Talmage Creech, 35, of Mid
dlesex, N.C., first class avi
ation mechanic and plane cap-
They'll Do It Every Time ! By Jimmy Hatlo
to see the mouse-J but rr breaks our if oc okah'pa built Whenever
JMAV I SHOW THEM h HEAWT BOO-HOO-7I rrCN,-StF) THAT'S a pcospjrf.T
ffVy AROUND? SI TO EVEM THINK OF V (MAN! PA THERE r- i nJwcn it
"L-Vfl (sob) bbeh so , ' house
Then the deal ' iUM0 "JT
BYE-8VE TEARS- " ' 0 , jt!if&l M 11,
luua auoadpok
, TMS HATLO HAT 10
CLAOENCE
DOHONSV,
LEE, ' ',(
tain, as he passed his plat
for seconds. "This spaghetti is
good."
Morale of the sailors aboard
this and other F2V planes was
high.
"Many of the men on our
planes can sit In on almost
any job and do it well," said
the pilot of another Neptune,
Lt. Cmdr. Charles G. Brady,
40, ot West Palm Beach, Fla.
Aviation Ordnanceman
First Class Wilbur Raymond,
38, Racine, Wis., said that his
patrol squadron . "is the best
I've ever . been. in. I have
never had more satisfaction
on a job In my life." His plane
pilot, Lt. Cmdr Ralph A.
Hoover, 42, Groveton, N.H.,
told me most of the crewmen
had participated in a "people-to-people
program." This pa
trol squadron last fall "adopt
ed" the Ryukyuan village of
Or, 17 miles southeast of
Naha Air Base on an island
of the same name. They have
built a complete playground
for children of or, including a
merryigo-round, seesaws.
swings and exercise bars.
Cheated Death i
"We cheated death for
another ' eight hours," an
American sailor said as the
Na,vy patrol plane he was
riding came to an abrupt stop.
- He was joking.
The P2V is an ungainly
looking craft, lopsided with
radar protuberances built
into a 12-year-old fuselage,
carrying two Jet and two con
ventional engines and addi
tional wing tip tanks. ' '
But the Neptune has an
enviable safety record. ! '
. Last year the chief of naval
operations gave Patrol Squad
ron -Four the aviation safety
award for flying 10,256 accident-free
hours, more than
any land-based patrol squad
ron. , i -"-j
The squadron also Is proud
of a distance record set 14
years ago and still standing.
That . was a 1947 ', non - stop
flight from Perth, Australia
to Columbus Ohio - 11,471
miles without refueling.
"Our planes are equipped
with the latest submarine de
tection devices available : to
the fleet," said Cmdr.-'Walter
E. Constance of Seattle, Wash,
We are ready to go any
where in the world at a mo
ment's- notice." ......
"I like this ' duty," said
Creech. The men frequently
work 10 hours a day seven
days a week and get time off
"only when we can get it.
As one officer explained it,
"We have a deadly serious
job to do.. Luckily,, we have
high morale and top mainte
nance." As ' the ' Neptune climbed
over the Formosa strait, I
pointed to a ship in the dis
tance and asked its pilot, if it
was friendly. 1 ; .. ; i
He replied, "AH ships are
friendly unless they' have guns
on them." M : .; i , t j
Trade of Captives
For Tractors Asked
Miami i-IUPD - Premier Fidel
were being mentioned here
Castro has offered, to trade
captured ; invaders for 500
U.S.- tractors in a deal recall:
Ing Adolf Eichmann's war:
time offer to exchange Jewish
prisoners for trucks.
In a 2V4-hour speech broad
cast by Radio Havana, Castro
said the 1,000 men captured
in last month's Invasion will
be used as forced labor if they
are not ransomed by the
United States.
But Castro, unlike the Ger
mans, did not threaten to kill
his captives if the trade was
not made. ... , i
NO FAVORABLE BALANCE
Government Records Accumulated
Faster Than They Can Be Destroyed
Br DICK WEST
Washington -TO - Of all
the government jobs that 1 1
don't covet, the one I don't
covet the most
is the one
held by Dr.
W a y n e C.
Grover, our
n a tional ar
chivist. , i
Am kuJ
VmL I the nation's
I T A I p r mclpal
I -; IJ parchment re-
"wSt"" pository, it is
part of his sworn duty to try
to throw away federal records
faster than the rest of the gov
ernment can produce them.
There is considerable doubt
that Grover will ever be able
to achieve a favorable bal
ance, mainly because the rest
of the government has too
much of a head start,
Nevertheless, he is making
some headway, which is to
say that he is not losing
ground as rapidly as he once
did, Last year, for instance,
the volume of records in his
custody only Increased : by
some' 240,000 cubic feet.
13,5 Million Cubic Feet
'According to figures sub
mitted this week to a House
subcommittee, the federal
government now has about
13.5 million cubic feet of rec
ords in offices ' of various
agencies throughout the
world. .
This is enough to fill' 2.6
million filing cabinets, : oc
cupying more than 13 million
square feet.
I haven't figured the thing
out exactly, but I feel safe in
saying that if all of those fil
ing cabinets were placed end
to end, they would stretch
farther than your ' Imagina
tion. This total, big as it Is does
not Include the non-current
records that are turned over
to the archives for safekeep
ing or evenlual disposal.
All in all, Grover told the
subcommittee, the paper vol
ume for the last four or five
years "has run pretty close to
24 million cubic feet."
Many Records Destroyed
"How much has the dispo
sal program reduced space re
quirements for the goverment
records?" inquired Rep. Joe L.
Evins (D-Tenn.).
"The last 10 years of this
program has resulted in the
destruction of at least 30 mil
lion cubic feet of records,"
Grover replied.
- Tb archivist had to con
cede, however, that this com
mendable feat did not, in real
ity, did not greatly reduce the
volume in the filing cabinets.
About all that the disposal
program accomplished was to
prevent the agencies from be
ing buried in their own paper
work.
Grover pointed out that
"we are taking the paychecks
from the old Liberty Loan
building at the rate of a mil
lion and a half a day."
- The checks must be retain
ed for eight years, he said,
and the Liberty Loan building
itself is not big enough to hold
all of the checks that accumu
late in that time.
Besides all of this; the Na
tional Archives permanently
preserves a billion and a half
historical records. What, ia
more, when the Civil War rec
ords were turned over to the
Archives, it somehow became
custodian of Jefferson Davis'
spurs. - - '. ' i " '-,'';
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