Lak newspaper

Lakenheath Air Traffic Control Saves USAF B-45 "Tornado"

The new RATCC (Radar Air Traffic Control Center) at Lakenheath, operated by the 1979th AACS Squadron, only a few days old [1] has already started paying for itself. The particular payment started when a B-45 called Lakenheath Fixer for a practice fix at 1814Z, 12 Aug. 56. After T/Sgt. Beckham [2] gave the B-45 his first fix, which was plotted by S/Sgt. John Foundos [3], the B-45 declared an emergency, and requested assistance to get to Sculthorpe. He advised he had 30 minutes of fuel left at his present altitude.

Shortly after, using the Lakenheath Fixer Net and the assistance of the Army radar operated by P^FC Tawl E. Rupert of the 60th AAA [4], the B-45 was advised he was 65 miles South-East of Sculthorpe. He was then given a heading to Sculthorpe and Sculthorpe was advised to have all crash equipment standing by. Several more fixes kept the B-45 on course to Sculthorpe.

At 1837Z, the B-45 landed safely on a straight in approach, with less than 5 minutes of fuel remaining.

The members of the Lakenheath Fixer Net that helped out were A/2c Dalton C. Briley at Sturgate, T/Sgt. Eugene J. Hall at Wethersfield, and T/Sgt. Gerald E. Cooper at Bentwaters, and they are to be commended for their part in the emergency. One more example of the high quality service that is expected from AACS.

[1] This evidently means a few days old following the CPS-5 field modifications; i.e., there had been an "old" RATCC before this "new" one. Perkins observed that the "few days" referred to was misleading because the Centre had been operational for at least "a few weeks at that point". Thayer suggested that the Centre had indeed been operational, as Perkins maintained, since June or earlier, but that in early August it was "new" in the sense that "the 'official' dedication of the RATCC was held up until the completion of the mods to the radar." This is consistent with Perkins' recollection that they had gone back to using the old system remoted from the GCA during an extensive CPS-5 modification which lasted for some days - evidently including the introduction of MTI and a scan-rate adjustment. Thus the ATC system would be "new" both in an administrative and in a practical sense.

[3] Controller John P. Foundos, AF 12401642, was one of those whom T/Sgt. Perkins recalled in 1975 was probably either on his shift or on the midnight relief shift, 13/14 August 1956. But his name does not appear listed in BOI-485. He has not been traced.