News Letter 1941 Jul-Dec - Air Force Historical Studies Office

THE JIR
FORCES NEWS LETTER
..
of the ledeer when the outskirts of civilization
are reached. 11le' relular American lq-ands of ciearettes
aell for 75~ per carton in the Post Exchanle,
althouah the Canadiana and Newfoundlanders pay 38~
per pack for them in the only civilian store at
the base.
At the present time the Of ficers' Club occupies
a small room, aame size as the bedrooms, in the
officers' quarters, and is eqyipped only with an
old radio-phonograph, a table and some straight
chairs. .lfcmever,a large combination mess and club
was heine completed and should be ready for occupancy
this (September) month. It will have a
lounee, reading and writine rooms and recreation
rooms.
Fishing in the vicinity of the base is excellent,
althoueh some of the best streams and lakes are
somewhat difficult to reach except by amphibian.
Salmon are plentiful on the Gander River, and one
fishine party came back recently with more than
they could use, claiming that the lame fish had to
be foulht off with clubs •. Trout fishing also is
eood, but Gander Lake itself, c~~iously enough.
seems to have no fish at all. The lake is very
deep, soundings having been made to a depth of
6,000 feet without striking bottom, and this may
be the reason.
The hunting laws inNewfoundlaoo are very strict,
but the hunting is said to be excellent. On the
Northern Peninsula there are polar bears during
the winter months, and caribou, moose, eeese and
black bears are plentiful. The nature of the terrain
is such that hunting might be difficult before
freezing weather sets in, but with snow on
the ground the problem should not be serious. It
is SUIKested that officers desiring to hunt bring
alonl a rifle in the .303 or 30-30 class, or any
other weapon suitable for bie aame, and at least a
20-gauee shotgun for skeet shoot ina.
Ski ina and snowshoeine should be eood in the
winter, althoueh the snow is said to be a little
too d8lllpfor the very best skiing, and the Quartermaster
atores are provided with hundreds of pairs
of skis and snowshoes, which may be purchased. A
very eood arctic type Alaskan boot is available
through the Quartermaster, as are heavy fur-lined
costs and other cold weather clothina.
Swimming is out of the question, since the water
is very cold, for all but the most rabid. Doatine
is possible on Gander Lake, which is a pretty big
body of water, but it would be difficult eettine a
fair-sized boat to the base from the outside. There
will be no aolf. and conditions don't seem perticularly
suitable for tennis, but there will be baseball,
volley ball and other such sports, soon we
hope.
Radio reception is rather poor. Officers as-
'iened to the base should brine a first-cIa .. shortwave
set. or none at all, because the conventional
7
lona-wave instrument just won't do a eood job.
Portable phonographs are useful to those ~ho like
music.
Wives are out of the question. As far as the
United States Army i. concerned, the Newfoundland
Air Base is strictly stag. In fact. there are
only about eight women on the whole base--several
wives of Canadian civil and military officials and
a few nurses in the Canadian hoapital. This hospi.
tal, incidentally, is used by the American troops
am is said to be well-run and equipped.
Every week an officer takes 25 enlisted men to
Camp Alexander, at St. Johns, where the men spend
the week having a good time in the Newfoundland
capital. There are soda fountains, which are very
popular. and dancing and swimming. The enlisted
men also can get dates in the town, since, apparently
like all the larger communities, there are
plenty of single girls.
On the Professional side, the officer assigned
to the Newfoundland Air Base will find his work
similar to ordinary squadron duties anywhere, except
that he is functioning utder conditions closer
to real war conditions than ordinarily, and may
find his work more interesting for that reason.
He will find many problems arising which mieht
never arise on a field in the States, but that.
too, probably will help make.the time pass more
quickly. Organizations will probably continue to
be replaced at relatively short intervals.
His rudder control becoming jammed as the result
of striking an unmarked high tension wire, causing
the plane to persist in circling to the left, Lieut.
Timothy A. Shea, 154th Observation Squadron, Post
Field, Fort Sill, Okla., climbed for altitude,
ordered his two pessengers. to "bailout, "and then
maneuvered his plane in ever widening circles unt i1
he managed to make a safe landing.
Lieut. Shea was making a test flight of his 0-47
airplane in the twilight, his passengers beine
Lieut. Francis Holt and Staff Sgt. Eulon H. Weeks,
.of his organization. Flying in a low attack formation
about 150 feet from the ground, his radio
antenna was snapped off and the rudder was nearly
torn off after striking the tension wire which was
strune across an artificial lake. The jammed rudder
caused the plane tostart circling to the left.
After his pessengers deserted the ship under orders,
Lieut. Shea proceeded to figure out just how
he was going to get down and out of his aerial
merry-go-round. His rudder control useless, he
began maneuvering his circles until they grew lareer
and larger like ripples in a pond. "Finally, he
included the Btawnwood, Texas. airport in one of
the circles and made a safe landine. Aside from
the ripped tail assembly, there was hIt minor damage
to the plane.