Have you been to Kwajalein?

In 1961 I was in the antenna group of SS&C at AIL. The project was 7377 (I think) to do pattern measurements on an 80ft diameter Luneburg lens receiving antenna for Nike Zeus on the Island of Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands.

I went there twice. Other AILers were Juan Garcia, Budd Rice, Jerry Tapely, Roy Kilcommons , and several others whose names I can’t recall. Wade Holcomb was the Field Engineering lead. Here are several pictures I took during those visits.
I was able to take a ride in the Linden Flight Service, DeHavilland Beaver, with the AIL designed (Walt Satre) antenna (cavity backed, crossed dipoles) mounted on the wing tip and take a few pictures of the site. The Island is 2 miles long and 500 yards wide at the southern end of the largest atoll in the Marshall Islands.

The white ball is the receiving antenna.  Half Luneburg Lens on a ground plane. The transmitting antenna is enclosed in a fence on the other side of the receiving antenna.  To get to the building of the transmitting antenna you did not go inside the fence but into a metal tunnel that led from the outside of the fence to the building of the transmitting antenna.
In 1961 traveling to and from Kwajalein from the United States was  and experience within itself. the flights were out of Oakland Airport on a world Airways flight. The airplane was a Super Constellation made by Lockheed. powered by four turboprop engines.  The flight was from Oakland to Hawaii overnight in Hawaii then Hawaii to Kwajalein. The Hawaii Kwajalein leg of the flight was very long and there are tables in the cabinets that have been set up to enable people to play cards with two people on each side of the table. We had one of the longest bridge games I’ve ever participated in on that leg of the flight. The players would change as a game went on even to the point of the stewardesses participating when they weren’t busy. The flight was smooth even to a point where the meals were set up on a table buffet style and walked around the cabin with food. There was no liquor served on the flights.

My first stay on Kwajalein I was roomed with Roy Kilcomons in the ‘Coral’ BOQ across the road from the Officer’s Club. Roy and I both bought cameras at the local store they called Macy’s. Roy bought a Nikon and I bought a Minolta, both were single lens reflex cameras. We took pictures every time we had a chance. I took many pictures of the area including walked in the reefs and climbing up the tower to take pictures of the antennas.
The work schedule was 6  10 to 12 hour days, sleep, eat and Saturday night small stakes poker. Since 7 card-stud seemed to be the favorite game, I built a 7-sided poker table. If all 7 players stayed in the hand, we had just enough cards. Bets were mostly quarters.

During my second stay on Kwajalein, I gave up smoking I had been a smoker for about 4 or 5 years. My inspiration for giving up smoking came from two things one was a  bet and the other was from an article I read that cancer was caused by smoking.  I had three children at the time and wanted to see them grow up. The bet was from Juan Garcia who claimed he could lose weight at least 10 lbs and give up smoking at the same time.

He bet about five of us coworkers $10 each that he can do this in about 3 weeks. I figured that if he could do both I could at least do one of them and give up smoking. He won his bet and collected the money and I won the opportunity to be smoke-free. At the time cigarettes were $1 a carton and $0.10 a pack and I had a partial carton and several packs opened on my nightstand when I started this stop smoking attempt.
29 years later in 1990 Jan and I are coming back from Okinawa after the closing of the SR-71 program. I contacted a friend, Al Anderson, I knew from the SR-71 program during the 1960’s, he was on Kwajalein and was able to get permission for Jan and I to stop there on our way back from Okinawa to the states.