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Russ,
Great site!
I think you are looking for info on the Mace 822nd TMS, but I was also in the
822nd, when it was still a Matador Sq.
I\'m an old Matador guidance mechanic, from the original 11th Tac Missile Sq.,
Combat Flight B. Trained at Lowry AFB CO, completed overseas training at Orlando
AFB FL, including two live Matador launches from Cape Canaveral.
We arrived at Sembach in June of 1956, in the first mass airlift of an entire
military organization, including dependents. Flew from Orlando Florida, to
Sembach Germany via the northern route, with two stops for fuel. Eighteen hours
of flying time if I recall correctly, in a Douglas DC-6B transport.
Later, the organization was renamed for a WWII bomb squadron, and the 11th TMS
became the 822nd TMS, under the 587th TMG. In Dec of 1958, the Matadors were
being phased out at Sembach, and many of us were reassigned to Hahn, where
Matadors were still operational. I served the last six months of my overseas
tour at Hahn AB, returning to the states in June of 1959, and was subsequently
assigned back to Lowry AFB CO, as a Mace B inertial guidance system instructor.
We attended the entire Mace A guidance system school, while waiting for the
Martin Company to start Mace B factory training in Baltimore.
I taught the Mace B inertial guidance system course for three years, before
being assigned to the Douglas Skybolt air launched ballistic missile guidance
school at Lowry.
Macnamara canceled the Skybolt program less than a year later, when we had just
begun setting up our training program at Lowry. Sadly, I never again returned to
the class room as an AF instructor, and was subsequently assigned to Holloman
AFB, NM, as a guidance technician.
Ironically, my first job assignment at Holloman, was on the Skybolt rocket sled
test program! We adapted the Skybolt astro inertial platform, as a test bed for
later guidance system component testing. The first test item we carried, was a
Minuteman II accelerometer.
I retired at HAFB thirteen years later, and took a job with the Boeing Company
in Seattle. Retired from Boeing in 95, and we moved to Portland Oregon three
years ago, to be near our youngest grandkids.
My time at Sembach was an exciting adventure, and I will never forget those
wonderful times, and all the dear friends I made there. Many of them or gone
now, but the memories are still with me, and I will cherish them for the rest of
my life.
Good luck with your web site, and please let me know if there is any way I may
assist you in your efforts.
Regards,
Bill Adair
Great site!
I think you are looking for info on the Mace 822nd TMS, but I was also in the
822nd, when it was still a Matador Sq.
I\'m an old Matador guidance mechanic, from the original 11th Tac Missile Sq.,
Combat Flight B. Trained at Lowry AFB CO, completed overseas training at Orlando
AFB FL, including two live Matador launches from Cape Canaveral.
We arrived at Sembach in June of 1956, in the first mass airlift of an entire
military organization, including dependents. Flew from Orlando Florida, to
Sembach Germany via the northern route, with two stops for fuel. Eighteen hours
of flying time if I recall correctly, in a Douglas DC-6B transport.
Later, the organization was renamed for a WWII bomb squadron, and the 11th TMS
became the 822nd TMS, under the 587th TMG. In Dec of 1958, the Matadors were
being phased out at Sembach, and many of us were reassigned to Hahn, where
Matadors were still operational. I served the last six months of my overseas
tour at Hahn AB, returning to the states in June of 1959, and was subsequently
assigned back to Lowry AFB CO, as a Mace B inertial guidance system instructor.
We attended the entire Mace A guidance system school, while waiting for the
Martin Company to start Mace B factory training in Baltimore.
I taught the Mace B inertial guidance system course for three years, before
being assigned to the Douglas Skybolt air launched ballistic missile guidance
school at Lowry.
Macnamara canceled the Skybolt program less than a year later, when we had just
begun setting up our training program at Lowry. Sadly, I never again returned to
the class room as an AF instructor, and was subsequently assigned to Holloman
AFB, NM, as a guidance technician.
Ironically, my first job assignment at Holloman, was on the Skybolt rocket sled
test program! We adapted the Skybolt astro inertial platform, as a test bed for
later guidance system component testing. The first test item we carried, was a
Minuteman II accelerometer.
I retired at HAFB thirteen years later, and took a job with the Boeing Company
in Seattle. Retired from Boeing in 95, and we moved to Portland Oregon three
years ago, to be near our youngest grandkids.
My time at Sembach was an exciting adventure, and I will never forget those
wonderful times, and all the dear friends I made there. Many of them or gone
now, but the memories are still with me, and I will cherish them for the rest of
my life.
Good luck with your web site, and please let me know if there is any way I may
assist you in your efforts.
Regards,
Bill Adair